Chapter 18

Chapter 18
Kathrine woke a couple hours later, alone in the bed. She felt her body stiff in almost every muscle she had. She groaned as she stretched and looked around without seeing Toby or Jarold hanging around anywhere in the room. She sat up and sniffed the air around her. Their scent was weak, as if they had been out of the room for a while. She could still feel them all over her body and she smelled strongly of both of their scents. Funnily, the scent soothed her instead of either embarrassing her or revolting her. In the last day she went from adamantly against accepting their mate bond to consummating it, enthusiastically. Her head was spinning with the turn of events. She went to the bathroom to take a shower and try to sort through the messy confusion that were her thoughts.

Toby and Jarold were in the backyard utilizing the grill to cook them steaks as baked potatoes cooked in the oven. They napped for a little bit but woke up starving and had decided to make their supper to surprise Kathrine. They were so blissfully happy with how things were progressing that if they were cat shifters, they would be purring nonstop. They felt her the moment she woke from her nap, and they immediately stiffened, looking at each other with a shared grin. She didn't make an appearance quickly and they tentatively reached out through the bond to check on her. There were a mass of confused emotions coming from her, but to their relief none of them were regret or anger. They read confusion on her acceptance of their bond, but not any want to change the situation.

"She still doesn't know how to feel about all of this." Toby commented as he flipped their steaks on the grill.

"Honestly, I don't think I quite know what to feel about all of this either, brother. I'm happier than I ever remember being. I'm relieved that it was her that mated us because we both have been checking her out for years." Jarold said. "And not only because she is gorgeous. But because she's a perfect fit for us from what I was able to notice from afar."

"She also made it absolutely no secret that she detested us, our father, and everything that had anything to do with us." Toby said glancing over at his brother and checking for Kathrine's appearance. "It is hard to accept that fate would put us in a bond with someone who so clearly hated us."

"I think she didn't hate us so much as the fact that if she let herself be curious about us and the mate bond took hold, she knew she'd be tangled up with our dad." Jarold said after a minute to think about what his brother had said. "I think she knew as much as we did, or maybe better since she was making a point to avoid us, that she was mated to at least one of us. She just didn't want to be linked to dad."

"She'd rather go without her mate than be linked to him? I would love to know how much she knows about what happened with the challenge. Her father would have had to tell his family at least some of the reason he was challenged." Toby said.

"He did tell us why he was challenged, at least as much as he could with the binding confidentiality the counsel is under." Kathrine said from the back door, having overheard the last part of their conversation. "Would you like to share more?"

Toby and Jarold froze for a moment. Toby almost dropped the plate with the steaks he had just pulled from the grill at the sound of her voice. They hadn't heard her approach, though that didn't surprise them. They weren't under any threat and would have no reason to be hyper-alert. All three of them stood in silence for a moment just staring at each other while they thought of a response and she waited for a response.

"We can't say anything about that. We've already told you that." Toby said gently. He looked at Jarold with wide eyes, scared of throwing them backwards with the fragile bond they had just established.

"I won't push for answers. But know, I will find out exactly what your father is up to. I know he is after removing the pack from a democracy, and I will do everything in my power to prevent that. With or without your help." Kathrine warned them tightly.

"We won't support him in that aim, Kathrine. Every wolf should have a say in how the pack functions. We didn't support his challenge of your father and we don't support most of what he is after now. That doesn't change the fact there are certain things we made promises to keep confidential for as long as we can." Toby said earnestly.

"But, make no mistake, when it comes to the safety and betterment of the pack, we will challenge him before we allow him to take the pack in a direction that would be dangerous." Jarold said.

"Would you kill your father in the challenge if it came to it? My father knew when to allow him to win the challenge to save his life. Because most challenges come down to that." Kathrine asked, cocking a challenging eyebrow at both of her mates.

"To protect you? To protect the safety of this pack? There is nothing more important." Toby said instantly with such sincerity. "Nothing comes before you and the safety of the pack."

"I'm part of the pack. Isn't that the same thing?" She asked confused on why they keep separating her from the pack in their responses.

"No. We'd destroy the pack if they were a threat to you or our pups." Jarold said with a shrug.

"What if I was a threat to the pack?" She asked, surprised at how firmly they had said that. She had felt their intense loyalty come through the mate bond they had felt that so strongly.

"Then we're a threat to the pack too. I don't think you really understand what the mate bond means, or at least for us. Can you honestly say that you'd let the pack or anyone else harm us?" Jarold asked her.

"No. No one is allowed to harm you." She said instantly, firmly. The thought had made a growl rumble in her chest.

"Then you can't be too shocked that, regardless of where the threat comes from, we'd wipe any threat to you from the face of the earth and have your back regardless of if we agree with what you're doing. We might be three wolves but we're one entity." Jarold told her.

"Now that is settled, can we go eat?" Toby asked with an air of an important issue being put to rest.

"Sure, I'm starving." She said after looking between the two of them and shaking her head.