Chapter Thirty-One
Graham was gone by the time Catherine woke up the next morning. He left her a sweet note on the bathroom mirror telling her to have a good day and that he loved her. After making breakfast she decided a run was just what she needed. As she got ready to head out the door, her phone rang.
“Hey, Bitch!” Juno exclaimed after Catherine answered.
“What do you want?”
“Rude, I haven’t heard from you since you moved in and this is the greeting I get?!”
“Phone rings both ways, Sweetheart,” Catherine teased. “I’ve been busy here.”
“Oh I bet you’ve been busy,” Juno said, making vulgar sucking and choking noises.
“HA!” Catherine mock-laughed. “If you only knew.”
“Ohhhh tell meeee,” Juno purred.
“I was about to go on a run,” Catherine sighed.
“Take me with you then, ho! You can’t drop a bomb like that and then hang up on me. Nu-uh, no way!”
“Fine, but I don’t think it’s the juicy topic you’re hoping for.”
Catherine set out through the back door. There was a trail leading from the backyard to the forest that surrounded Blackmoore. She’d taken to running the trail almost every day while Graham was at work. She picked up a jog through the woods, keeping her pace slow enough to be able to recount everything that had happened to her and Graham since arriving. Juno listened raptly, adding a dramatic gasp or a “holy shit’ whenever applicable. By the time she’d caught up to the present, Juno was speechless.
“So… you’re like Lycan royalty but your dad is kind of a dick?”
Catherine laughed. “Apparently.”
“Well, hot dog, I’m damn glad I picked you up off that highway then. When can I claim my reward? I’ll accept a mansion, or any jewelry over 5 carats.”
“I’ll let Jensen know but I wouldn’t hold your breath,” Catherine said.
“Sucks about the marking thing though. Wait, why can’t you just say, ‘fuck you, daddy,’ and mark Graham first?”
Catherine sighed. “Freaking lycan anatomy. Apparently the guy has to mark the girl first. Something about his venom unlocking her genetic code blah blah…”
“Sexist bull crap,” Juno confirmed.
“Yeah… What about you? How are things in Sterling?”
“Bleh,” Juno said, not appreciating the change in conversation. “The new chef is a piece of work.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, his name is Chuck. Oh! Matt came to the bar the other night.”
“Really? I miss that old buffoon.”
“He was pretty upset and frantic over you leaving town. Apparently Chuck ended the sale agreement with him.”
“What P
Chapter Thirty-One
“Chuck says after you left he did a clean sweep of the kitchen and found some produce from Matt’s farm and claimed it was ‘unsatisfactory.’ He said he had to throw it all out. Much of it was rotten or smelled funky. He said he found some mushrooms that were rotted with black veins?”
“What an ass! It’s organic produce! Of course it’s not perfect!”
“Yeah well, Chuck’s hot and Paul has a mega crush on him so it’s wholesale buying from here on out.”
“Boo.”
Catherine slowed down to a walk and glanced around. She’d run farther than she had before. She normally took a left turn a while back but knew it would end her run before she finished talking with Juno. The right turn she’d made however took her further in the forest. It was quiet, eerily so. Ahead of her she heard twigs snapping. The hairs on her arms stood on end. Ignoring her intuition, she walked forward around a bend in the trail. She stopped dead.
Catherine could see the outline of the fence closest to town. She’d seen the fenceline only once before when Graham brought her through it two weeks ago. It was tall, tall enough to prevent lycans from being able to jump over it. It was electrified and barbed. She was shocked that she’d managed to get all the way to it. It spoke to how lost she could get while talking to her best friend.
What shocked her more was what she saw in front of her now. On one side of the fence she saw eight wolves, pacing along the fenceline. One wolf was standing stock still, staring through the fence at someone on her side. She couldn’t make much out about the person. They wore a baggy, black hoodie, baggy jeans and large boots.
She watched the interaction for a few minutes. She couldn’t tell if the figure was speaking to the wolves. It seemed as though the figure and stoic wolf were locked in some telepathic communication. The wind whipped by her and brought the scent of lycans: a bunch of them. She watched as the wolves and the figure caught the scent… and hers. The wolves and figure turned to her. Their eyes locked and then they fled.
“Kitty! Catherine! Hello?!” Juno screamed in her ear.
“Juno, I think I just saw something. A bunch of rogues at the fenceline talking to someone from Blackmoore…”
“Juicy, but maybe shut up so they don’t hear you?”
“They took off. Lycans are coming,” Catherine explained, her feet still rooted in disbelief at what she’d witnessed.
Howls broke out and the hair on her arms stood on end. On the other side of the fence she saw at least a dozen furry blurs rush in the direction of the fleeing wolves.
“Catherine,” Juno whispered, fear in her own voice. She must have heard the howls too. “Catherine, didn’t you say that Jensen hasn’t brought you into the pack?”
“Yeah,” Catherine hissed, starting to walk down the path again, hoping it looped back around at some point.
“Then doesn’t that mean you’re still rogue? And the lycans are chasing rogues right where you are?!”
Just as Juno said that she heard the rustling of leaves and a low, threatening growl behind her. Catherine spun. Three lycans were lowered to their front feet, stalking slowly toward her. Two of them were black while one was a rusty brown. Their eyes were black, their teeth were snarled and their hackles were raised. She raised her hands in surrender while stepping back slowly.
“M-my name is C-Catherine,” she stammered. “I-I am not a threat. I saw w-wolves,” she said pointing to where the wolves had been behind the fence. The rust colored lycan followed her finger and rushed for the fence.
The black lycan in front shifted and she kept her eyes on his to keep from seeing his naked state below his waist. His eyes remained pitch black, matching his hair. His mouth twisted up on one side as he appraised her.
“Catherine? Catherine, what’s going on?” Juno asked in her ear.
The shifted lycan’s eyes went to the side of her head where the wire of her earbud peaked out from her ear. “Did your friends ditch you, Rogue?” he asked. “Did they think a pretty thing like you might throw us off their trail?”
Catherine shook her head. “I’m not rogue. My mate is here in Blackmoore, his name is…”
“The air is tainted with your filthy scent, Rogue,” he spat before she could say Graham’s name.
213
Chapter Thirty-One
The red fecan returned then and shifted. He went a nervous glance her way. “Ryan, her ecent an’t doet there. We should get The and her hum handle this
“Theo, ves please get him, he can explain all of this,” she begged
The black lycan, Ryan, scrutinized her before shaking his head. “Nah, we can handle this. Imagine the praise we’ll get from MacTavish
*Graham, Graham is my mate,” Catherine pleaded.
“That’s where I know her from. I saw her at the training field with MacTavish. He… he kissed her,” the red lycan sand.
The third lycan shifted then. “That’s where his smell is coming from, the third lycan said. “It’s from her.”
Ryan grimaced. “It’s a trick.”
“I saw what I saw, Ryan,” the red lycan argued.
“Where’s her mark then? Do you really think the lead warrior of Blackmore would go even five minutes without claiming what’s his? And she’s rogue. You know what he did to that group of rogues two weeks ago. Louis was there the aid he tore them to pieces bit by bit…” Ryan taunted, taking a few steps toward Catherine.
“What the fuck?” Juno garped in her ear.
Again his eyes went to the earbud “Tell your informand you’ve been caught und se aand veindonements, Sweetheart Ed warn hey though that by the time I’m done with you there won’t be anything left. Now, runs I’ll even give you pay monde hand cut be used, shuning hay with his hand. Catherine’s heart hammered against her chest. Her breathing was regged and the tank no se large grape
“Please…” she tried one last time
“I said RUN!”
Chapter Comments
POST COMMENT NOW
✩2
SHARE
213
Surrendering to Destiny
