3. Another Perspective

Ian's POV

When I woke up this morning, I felt strange. I'd spent the night dreaming about Kattie -- my beautiful, gorgeous Kattie.

She was always on my mind, but today there was something different, a longing I couldn't ignore.

My wolf was restless, urging me to find her. The first thing we wanted to do was see her. Even if we couldn't get as close as we truly wanted, we craved having her near. I washed up and changed as fast as I could, doing my best to look good so she'd notice.

I practically ran out of my room, but I wasn't fast enough. My brothers were already about to head downstairs. I had no choice but to calm myself and follow them. Axel and Sam started wrestling on the stairs, shoving each other and laughing, while Alex just watched, chuckling and ruffling my hair.

Normally that wouldn't bother me, but today I wanted to look presentable for my goddess, Kattie. With a quick swat, I knocked his hand off my head. He looked at me in surprise -- I'd never done that before.

"Someone woke up in a bad mood?" he asked with a smile, trying to lift my spirits.

"Sorry, bro," I mumbled, staring at my feet. Alex was the one who worried about me most, always paying attention to what was going on with me.

When we reached the dining room, there she was -- the one, the most beautiful girl in the world. From the moment she arrived at the pack house, I'd fallen hopelessly for her. Even though she was only seven and I was ten, she was the most stunning girl I'd ever seen.

The first time I saw her, she looked like a princess from a fairy tale. Her straight black hair, a little damp from the falling snow. Her hazel eyes, brimming with tears, broke my heart. She wore a pretty sky-blue dress with thermal tights and brown boots. I fell for her completely in that instant.

I tried dating other she-wolves, hoping they'd make me feel the same way, but none of them came close. During every date, I wished Kattie were the one beside me. After a while, I decided that if I couldn't be with my goddess, I wouldn't be with anyone.

"Did you make all this for me, Kattie?" I said, smiling at her. She smiled back, and my heart swelled with joy. I loved every little thing she did. I loved being the only one who got those kinds of smiles.

As I passed by her, I tried to mess up her hair, to pull out the bun that held back her beautiful black locks. But she stepped backward, laughing -- and crashed right into Axel. Her smile vanished instantly. He started messing with her alongside Sam, and what they did left me stunned: they buried their faces in her neck, breathing in her scent.

My instincts went haywire. Anger and the urge to protect her clouded my mind. I'd always kept my distance. What they'd done was an outrage. My eyes went black, and the desire to defend her surged immediately -- but then the fear came. The fear that if I stood up for her, my mother would take it out on her later, and instead of helping, I'd only make things worse.

I remembered a time when I had stepped in to defend Kattie.

It was at a family gathering, and my brothers had been mocking her, shoving her around. Without thinking, I got between them and Kattie, shouting at them to leave her alone. My mother, seeing my reaction, was furious -- but her anger wasn't aimed at me. It landed on Kattie.

That day taught me that openly defending her could bring catastrophic consequences.

Kattie ended up in tears, and my mother, in a fit of rage, decided to take it all out on her. She tore into her with harsh criticism, belittling everything from her appearance to the way she behaved. She banned Kattie from joining family activities and even confiscated her favorite things as punishment. The brutality of her words left Kattie so humiliated and rejected that she couldn't hold back her tears. I stood there, powerless, watching my mother inflict that cruel punishment, feeling like I hadn't just hurt Kattie -- I'd drawn a line between us.

The guilt of having made things worse tormented me. Instead of cheering her up, I'd caused her more suffering. From that moment on, I decided to stay silent, convinced that my desire to protect her only brought more trouble. Every time I saw her sadness, it was like a weight on my heart growing heavier, knowing I'd failed her in the most painful way possible.

"I'm hungry. Quit messing around," I said, trying to raise my voice into something that could pass for authority. My brothers looked at me and finally left her alone, but the flat tone of my own voice left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Still, Alex didn't let the opportunity pass. He told her she needed to respect her Alphas and forced her to look him in the eye. That was typical of him -- he just wanted her to look at him, demanding respect. Meanwhile, I was desperate to act on what I felt, but my mother's shadow kept whispering that it was dangerous. Kattie didn't deserve to be treated this way, and I needed to find the courage to stand up for her -- against everyone and everything.

Alex's POV

Ian was acting weird today, but I decided not to read too much into it. I figured it was just nerves about our upcoming assumption as the pack's Alphas.

To calm him down, I ruffled his hair the way I always did, but this time he pulled away -- then apologized. I couldn't blame him; he was my baby brother. He was probably just wound too tight.

"Easy, pup. Everything's going to be fine. Don't be nervous," I tried to reassure him through the mind-link, but got no response.

When we reached the dining room, there was Kattie. She'd lived with us since she was little, handling every household chore. She was essentially a servant, with the difference that she received no pay for her work.

My parents said she was "paying off her parents' debt," but that had always struck me as wrong. How could a seven-year-old girl take on her parents' burden? It made no sense -- but I wasn't the Alpha of this pack yet. I couldn't do anything about it. That would change tomorrow.

I had mixed feelings about Kattie. Something about her sparked my curiosity -- an intense attraction that only grew with time. But she also stirred up anger and frustration in me.

She always kept her distance, as if my mere presence disgusted her. But why? I'd never done anything to hurt her -- or at least I couldn't remember doing so. Of the four of us, I was the only one who didn't treat her well or badly, simply because she wouldn't let me get close.

I envied Ian, whose ability to make her smile was so obvious. The few smiles I'd ever seen from her were all for him. Nobody else seemed to notice that he was always there, swooping in to rescue her from Sam and Axel whenever they harassed her.

That need to be noticed, without being able to find a way to reach Kattie, gnawed at me from the inside. My position as the future Alpha should have been enough to earn her respect, but her indifference only left me frustrated. I felt a pull of curiosity and irritation that I couldn't ignore. Every time she turned her back on me, something tightened in my chest. The balance of power had always been essential in our pack, and as Alpha, I couldn't afford to be ignored. So with authority in my voice, I pushed to make Kattie notice me -- even if that meant being heavy-handed.

That was why I liked making her look me in the eye and demanding her respect. It was the only way I'd found to make her see me, but her indifference still filled me with frustration.

One day, she was so pale she nearly fainted. No one was around to help because she'd been cleaning the dining room alone after breakfast. I moved fast, catching her in my arms before she hit the floor. It was the only time I'd ever held her close, and it felt incredible. But the second she realized what had happened, she pulled away, staring at her feet and apologizing. That infuriated me. I asked her what was wrong, whether she'd eaten breakfast. Her answer, halting and uncertain, was that she hadn't been able to eat anything, and that was what caused her dizziness and headaches.

From that day on, every morning I served myself a little extra and left it in the center of the table, as if it were leftovers. It was my way of making sure she always had something to eat for breakfast. At first I tried different options, hiding nearby to make sure she actually ate. That was how I discovered her favorites: she preferred savory food, except for vegetables -- whenever I left her some, she'd separate them out and push them aside. She didn't have much of a sweet tooth; she'd eat a little just to have something in her stomach.

Today was no different. There was one waffle left. I made sure to set it aside along with some eggs and bacon. Axel, however, had his eyes locked on me the entire time. He was the biggest eater of the four and turned red with anger when I didn't let him have the last waffle. Furious, he stormed off to his room. But I couldn't stick around to make sure Kattie ate -- I had a meeting with Dad to discuss pack business.

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