Chapter Thirty Six

Cole and Katie talked until it was midnight. A large fight on who would get to escort the other home ensued when they finally decided to see each other off. Having an alpha face off with an overpowered hunter compete on who would be better off going home with on their own seemed to be a completely pointless argument. In the end, Katie conceded to the alphas overprotective instincts grumpily mumbling something about him being an unreasonable bag of testosterone.

The remark reached the werewolf's sharp ears sparking the biggest laughing fit that she'd ever seen him get into. The alpha was amused by the string of words that he couldn't help himself. Katie groaned and let the werewolf fall back. They walked on taking the route through the forest rather than through town that would have attracted more attention. "So do you think you'll have a second chance mate?" Katie asked him once he was done with his outburst.

After what he'd revealed, she had done her best to conceal any of the roaring reactions that threatened to break through her façade. To her, this was just a revelation that had been set in stone. He was going to find out exactly who she was on the day that she turned eighteen. He'd informed her of every question that she'd asked him about mates and was able to confirm that their unnatural attraction was being by their suppressed mate bond. This she did not reveal to him, however.

The occurrences when she would sniff out an alluring scent that she wanted to go to with every fibre in her being. It all made sense to her now. This was the person that caused her wolf to stir even when it was heavily dosed with the drugs that suppressed that side of her. Even as they walked in silence to her house, she felt it purr in contentment just because the two of them had been in close proximity for a long time.

Cole, on the other hand, did not understand this reaction and was oblivious to the fact that the hunter he was starting to see in a different light was indeed the long lost mate that he'd long given up on finding. However, each time that he looked at her, he couldn't avoid thinking about it. Even when he was about to call out to her, a feeling of guilt that he referred to her in the same first name that his mate should have had gripped him. His wolf, however, would nurse that guilt away. There was something his wolf knew that he didn't.

"I don't know about that. The thought of it, however, does not rub my wolf in the wrong way," he said.

"Oh, I was meaning to ask. How does it feel to have a wolf? Can you like talk to your wolf in your mind like it's some other person or are the two of you the same person?" Katie asked. The lights of the town were starting to come through the trees signalling the close proximity of the town.

"That varies really. Wolves have personalities. Some learn how to speak with time while others stay quiet their entire lives. What's true, however, is the fact that they still pose as different entities from their humans and have independent emotions from those of the human. While the human can judge everything that from what they know and see, the wolf sometimes knows something else other than that. The ability of a wolf to communicate to their human counterparts in that regard becomes an important thing. The further the connection between the two, the more erratic a werewolf will act.

Sometimes, you will find that a werewolf will act completely different when they've shifted simply because they don't know what it is that the wolf is planning to do. It's not unheard of for a werewolf to fail to find their mates simply because they did not know how to communicate with their wolves. Although it is becoming rare since we try our best to educate werewolves before they are allowed to interact with the human society," he said.

"Oh right, you mentioned something about not allowing werewolves that haven't mastered control anywhere near humans in order to protect them," Katie said, worry seeping into her voice.

"Yeah, why does that bother you? When you asked the question back then, it seemed random, but now I'm noticing there is a reason you asked that for a reason…" Cole tried.

"Never mind that," the two of them were currently milling through an alleyway that led them to the street that led to Katie's front door.

"You can trust me, you know?" Cole tried.

Katie thought for a bit before answering, "I think you have an entire werewolf empire whose trust you need to keep. Hold on to that… It was nothing," no matter how much she tried, this was the one expression she just couldn't mask. "I'm sorry, I just can't tell you this one…"

"Okay then… I guess the amount of trust you have in me has a limit…" Cole replied.

Katie froze on hearing that, stopping in her tracks, "I'll tell you, but not today… I'm still trying to wrap my head around something. Does that put your werewolf heart to rest?"

"Oh, does someone care about it?" he asked.

Katie was silent for a bit trying to decipher the meaning of the answer she was about to give. Nonetheless, her underdeveloped emotions that she'd spent her life blocking did not yield her any reasonable answers, "Yes, I do care."

Cole was taken aback by the answer. 'Would you look at that?' "Fine then… That's enough for me. Now can we get you to your front door?"

"It's actually the next house," she said, beckoning to the average home that she lived in with her retired hunter guardians.

"I did not expect the famous Chase family to live in an ordinary neighbourhood," Cole exclaimed, looking the house up and down and taking note of the group of houses that lined the street in an identical fashion.

"What did you expect? Are you disappointed?" she asked.

"No, I'm actually surprised. The part of your family that lives close to the Lycaon family lives a life of luxury in a penthouse. This was the last place I would have expected Chase hunters to be," he said, "almost like they are here incognito."

"No, more like they are retired and are taking a stab at having a normal life," Katie for the save, she mentally panicked when she noticed the way the alpha narrowed his eyes at the house. "Get home safely, Cole. Good night."

His voice rang out when she was at her front porch, "Are you still not going to the dance on Sunday night?"

"No, I can't go on that night," she replied allowing sadness to seep into her voice.

"What a shame… Goodnight."

"Good night, Cole," she said, waiting for him to walk away before she moved on to her next mission… 'Getting into this goddamn house without being detected… Chances of success- Next to none.'

Katie turned the knob of the front door ever so quietly trying her best not to wake her parents while she got in. If at all they had not woken up from the sound of her talking to Cole at the street, 'Damn their sharp ears.'

"So that was the famous Cole Lycaon?" a voice came whilst she tried to silently lock the door. Giving up her charade, she slammed the door the rest of the door and slumped her shoulders, whimpering in defeat.

"Don't you guys ever sleep deeply like trolls or something?" she whined childishly, turning around to meet Aunt Marie's sleepy face.

The woman was in her late forties but still had all her sharp senses. She sipped her coffee mug, a drink she usually had heated at all times for times just like this. Her blond hair fell out of her messy bun as though she had been in a hurricane and her eyes were half-open in a permanent indication of her rushed wake up. Uncle Tom, however, was nowhere to be seen.

"I wouldn't miss that display for anything. And here I thought you were up investigating a murder…" she sipped yet another sip of her coffee. Katie walked into the kitchen and poured herself a cup as well. "The investigation is not going well. I intended to take my mind off it talking to Cole."

"Well, did you have fun talking to him?" Aunt Marie asked, sitting on a chair by the kitchen counter to talk to her daughter.

"I'm not sure what to think. He told me of his 'allegedly' dead mate who I've found out could be me," she said.

"What makes you think that?"

"Wasn't so hard to connect the dots once I found out about the attack on the Sirius family eighteen years ago," I said to her.

"We tried our best to keep that information from you while at the same time training you to handle your emotions. It will be crucial once your wolf is out… Humans aren't so different from werewolves… When we are angry, we lash out at anything that's around us. That's what the moon goddess was trying to exploit to end the human race back then when she gave rise to the first two werewolves. As long as you know how to keep your emotions in check, you will pose less of a threat to others when your wolf awakens on your eighteenth birthday. And now that you know who your mate is, you know who will be able to bring you back once you've shifted," she said, finishing the entirety of the plan that had been set into motion since the day she'd been born.