The Story of the Exile (The Belesone Pack #2)

Chapter 22

The next morning, the Friday of the deadline the Elders had given Milo, everyone was up and downstairs for breakfast by eight.

Grene had been called to the house, as had the Elders. Since it would take time for them to arrive, they decided to do things without them and inform them later.

Carlton was an Alpha and had the power to unite shifters of any pack. He had agreed to unite Katarina and Milo that morning, before they set their trap for Nathaniel.

Milo grumbled a little about how he could have performed his own union if he had known he was able to. No one really listened, since they were all too busy preparing for the union and the trap.

Oswine was completely cured from his illness, walking around the house and transforming for no reason, over breakfast.

Carlton wasn't the only one a little annoyed with him. He wasn't helping, but he insisted on being a part of their union any way

"I promise he won't ruin it," Milo whispered to Katarina, as they prepared the main hallway of the house for the union. They wouldn't break through the protection on the house until their union was complete and they were still waiting for Grene's arrival.

"I just...I don't understand him. He's like a completely different person," Katarina confessed quietly, as she sat on the ladders and strung up the usual decorations for a union.

Carlton insisted. Since Leo was trying to distract himself by being 'photographer', they had agreed to go all out. It would keep them busy, if nothing else. At least until Grene and the Elders arrived.

Milo sighed and glanced across at his father, who was roaming around the house as a wolf, now running up and down the stairs as if he had never done so before. "No. He's just back to who he was before. I just never realised how annoying that was until now," he frowned as he thought of how he had never felt close to his father until the illness took over.

Oswine had tried to help him prepare to be the Alpha, despite his young age. They had finally bonded, after years of indifference towards one another. Now he realised that his father had just been feeling sorry for himself.

"He's your father, Milo," she scolded him for talking of his father in that way. It just made him smile at her, as he handed over the last end of the banner.

It was made entirely from wild flowers, all entwined together, until they made a banner of colour and sweet fragrances. It was supposed to go over the arch in the back garden, where the Alpha and his mate would be united in front of the whole pack. But neither Milo or Katarina felt like conforming to tradition. They weren't ones for being stared at.

"Yeah, and look at your dad," Milo complained, looking over at Carlton as he sprinkled flower petals over the hallway floor.

Leo had helped bring the archway into the house and position it in front of the staircase. Thanks to how the intricate spell worked, the back garden was protected by the spell, thanks to the sewage drains that ran beneath the ground. It allowed them to keep the tradition of the archway. It was just their luck that there was no front garden to speak of, only three steps leading down from the porch, to the street.

The place was looking nice.

"He and Grene didn't fight over you," Milo reminded her. "Neither of them neglected you, even though you couldn't be entirely one or the others daughter. They shared you openly, getting over their differences because they love you," he reminded her, smiling in amusement when she flushed a deep red. She loved having her father close and he could feel it. It would be even better once Grene arrived and she saw them getting along together for herself.

"Just make sure he doesn't try to take the Alpha status from you," she warned him, sweetly.

Milo kissed her knee since it was the only part of her he could reach at the moment. "He can't do that, Katie. I'm Alpha now. The pack won't recognize anyone else," He didn't care what his dad tried; he was Alpha and that was the end of it.

Milo wouldn't accept being pushed out of that position just because his father had 'recovered' from his illness. He also didn't care that it was an illness given to him so that he could be Alpha and mate with Katarina. None of it mattered.

He watched as Katarina finished pinning the flowery banner to the ceiling and helped her down the ladder. That was it. The last of the preparations.

He felt like he should say something profound to her about how he felt, but Milo didn't get the chance.

Carlton came across with a smile and ushered them into a private area of the hallway. "Now, I'm sure you've both seen a union before but let's go over the process," he suggested. "You walk to the archway, kneel and repeat the vows I recite to you. Then once you have been united as humans, you transform into your wolves and we do the wolf ceremony," he reminded them, though Milo knew the rote well by now. "All you have to do is stay in place and show affection in any way you wish, when it's over. Any questions?" he asked politely.

Milo tried not to laugh at the look of stunned panic on Katarina's face. He knew exactly what the problem was, but he wasn't going to say it. He wasn't sure he could manage the words without laughing.

Katarina turned to him with a look of confusion and pleading eyes, asking him to say something. But he could only shake his head and keep his mouth shut.

"After the union? What are we supposed to do?" she asked desperately. She had never been naked in front of anyone but Milo before and she didn't plan on changing that.

Carlton smiled and brushed his hand across Katarina's hair in adoration. "I forget how shy you are, sweetheart," he said, fondly. "You can go upstairs to get dressed again. Then when you come down, we'll break the protection charm and tell the pack about the 'pregnancy'," he explained.

"Right, and then we wait for Nathaniel to make his move," Milo agreed, more to ease his amusement than anything else. Except that he still ended up on the receiving end of an unhappily arched eyebrow from his mate. He quickly kissed her cheek and moved away, to see if Leo needed some help.