The Alpha and the Oracle (The Belesone Pack #1)

Chapter 10

When Milo walked out of the bathroom on his own human feet, he felt surprising good. Katarina's fear of him had lightened his mood and he was too curious about what was going on with her to be angry.

The upstairs corridor was empty, so he made his way downstairs, to find Katarina sitting nervously at the kitchen table while her father leaned over her.

He didn't need his extra wolf senses to know that he was trying to soothe her and Katarina was having none of it. She looked practically distraught; a look he was quite used to seeing on her face. After all, she was never quite happy. She knew too much about her own failures, as a wolf in their pack, to ever truly be happy.

Milo figured it was better that she knew and tried to save her pack the burden of carrying her along, than to have her completely oblivious. She would only be more of a hassle that way. At least knowing, she refused to go on hunts where she would keep them back and she refused to fight because she knew she would lose.

Now that he thought about it, Milo wasn't sure when she had last been on a hunt. He wasn't sure how she managed it. There was nothing better than being his wolf and running through the trees, chasing a scent. But, that was her choice. At least she didn't slow the pack down when they hunted together.

Milo cleared his throat as he walked into the kitchen and Grene instantly straightened up.

"You were too rough with her." He snapped.

Milo turned his eyes to Katarina, who refused to look at him. "I'm sorry Grene, I'm not sure what you mean." He admitted, confused. He wondered if he was expected to have left her under her bed all day long.

Grene pulled Katarina's hair away from her neck to display a small bluish bruise, along with a small cut.

Milo frowned as he realised that he must have bruised her and scraped a tooth against her skin when he was carrying her to the bathroom. "I'm sorry. But perhaps it will teach her not to squirm when a wolf has his mouth around her throat." He sighed, leaning back against the counter.

He was the Alpha, dammit. He wasn't going to apologise for giving a weak, pathetic girl a bruise and a cut just because she had been stupid enough to fight him.

Grene was shooting daggers at him, as Katarina ignored them both, pulling her long dark hair over her neck on both sides.

Milo wondered if there were other marks too. Had he really been too rough with her?

"Grene," he began again, unable to take his eyes away from Katarina's neck as he thought about the marks he had given her. "I was hoping to take Katarina on a date tonight. Possibly dinner? We're supposed to train after school for an hour, so I thought we would go straight for dinner afterwards and then I'll bring her home." He suggested, frowning slightly as Katarina turned to look at him, obviously surprised by his offer. He caught a glimpse of her marks through her hair and quickly looked away as he realised that the bruise looked like a hickey.

Milo wasn't sure why that thought had come to him. But it had and he was vaguely unaware of Grene's gruff agreement to his plans. Or that he gave them an eight o'clock curfew.

All he thought about was how everyone at school would think he had given Katarina a hickey, as soon as they saw them sitting together all day. He wanted to bang his head against the wall for his idiotic actions that morning. If he had only left her to cower under her bed, he wouldn't be in this mess.

"Katarina...are there any more marks?" He found himself asking.

She looked up and, to his discomfort, she got out of her seat and stood in front of him.