Chapter Thirty-Six
Graham glared at the room as Rebecca helped Catherine put fresh linens down. When he took the role as ‘lead warrior’ he was presented this room on the third floor of the packhouse. It sat on the back end of the house looking out on the forest and mountains in the distance. It was one of the largest on the floor in accordance with the prestigious role. There was a sitting area and an en suite bathroom with everything a person could need. He’d never slept here
once.
He heard a slight hitch in Catherine’s breath and his eyes shot to her. She’d leaned down to pull the blanket into place but had apparently used the arm closest to her collarbone injury. She gave Rebecca a reassuring smile and continued on more carefully now.
She hadn’t said much since last night. He’d sat next to her bed after Juno left, holding her hand while she fretted in her sleep. She told everyone she was fine but he caught the sluggish way she moved, the way her fingers trembled in nerves and how her eyes were constantly squinted in pain.
Graham walked to her and took her elbow. She gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. He sat her in a leather armchair by the window and finished setting the bed up for her. Catherine only sat down for a moment before slowly standing again and going to her bags against the wall. She clutched her worst arm against her chest as she dug through her bag.
“Catherine, let me do that,” Graham said, walking over to her.
“I can do it,” she whispered as she pulled out her bathroom supplies. She stood too sharply and dropped the bag with a gasp of pain. A growl rumbled low in his chest and he dipped to grab the bag before she could.
“Just rest today, Sweetheart,” Rebecca told her in her soothing luna voice. She took Catherine’s hands and squeezed. Catherine gave her a pleading look. “I know it’s hard…” Rebecca glanced at Graham. “I wish I could say it got easier when they left but it never does. Just know he will miss you as much as you do, if not more.” Catherine nodded and Rebecca gave her a peck on the cheek. “I’ll come get you tomorrow morning and you can get started in the kitchen, okay?”
Catherine gave her the first genuine smile she’d procured all day. “I’d like that. I really want to be useful again.”
“Great, I’ll come by around 8 then,” Rebecca told her. Then she turned her attention to Graham. She gave him a hug and leaned up to his ear. “Remember what I said last night. This will be much harder for her. Make sure to leave her with the reassurance you’ll be back as soon as possible and make sure she knows you love her. Understood?”
Graham nodded and thanked her before she left them alone. Catherine bent down and continued to pick through her bags. She was avoiding the inevitable and, frankly, so was he. He stuck his hands in his pockets and glanced at the door.
“I should redo your bandages again,” Graham muttered walking to the bedside table to grab the supplies Nancy left them.
“Right, you’ll need to leave soon,” she mumbled, glancing at the large ornate clock above the dresser.
Catherine sat on the edge of the bed, removed her shirt and drew her knees up to her chest. Graham started with the scratches on her back. Luckily the medicine Nancy gave her managed to do a lot of healing already. The long jagged marks were now pink and fading. He applied a cream and she sighed before leaning forward to place her head on her knees. She held out her right arm as he redid the bandages and then her left. As he fixed her ankle she placed her hand on his shoulder. He unconsciously turned his head to place a kiss on her hand.
“I don’t want you to go,” she finally admitted. He stopped his bandaging for a moment to glance up at her. Her eyes were misty and her expression
uncertain.
“I don’t want to leave you,” he said back. He continued his bandaging. “I need to find these bastards though, baby. If I don’t, they’ll come back.”
“Why can’t he send someone else? Like Theo?”
He smirked. “Theo lost their trail two miles out, you heard him yourself. I’m the best tracker in the pack. It’s my duty. I warned you about this. It’s one of the reasons why I refuse to become beta.” She averted her gaze as he stood up to inspect her worst injury: her collarbone. He peeled back the bandage and breathed a sigh of relief that the wound had finally closed up entirely. There was still a deep purple bruising but he knew it would be gone by tomorrow morning. “I hate to say that the packhouse is the safest place for you when me and Theo are gone.”
“You said you didn’t trust anyone in the packhouse.”
“I don’t.”
“Okay…”
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“There’s one person I trust and he’ll be here to watch over you by tonight.”
Her eyes finally met his. “Who is he?”
“His name is Lucas, he’s my number two. I’ve known him since I was an infant.”
“You trust him more than Theo?”
Graham chuckled. “Hell yes. He’s not screwing my sister.” Catherine finally cracked a smile. He brought his knuckles under her chin to lift her face up for better viewing. “There she is, my beautiful mate.”
She sighed. “I’ll be fine,” she finally admitted. “I just hate staying at packhouses.”
Graham cursed himself. Of course she didn’t want to stay at the packhouse. The last time she’d been in one, she’d been held captive and now… well there were a lot of similarities. That fact had completely eluded him the last twenty four hours. Graham watched her eyes trace back and forth in her lap. She nodded to herself and then tilted her face up to his, looking resolute.
“I’ll be fine,” she repeated, more firmly. “I’ll start work in the kitchen and then I’ll talk to Jensen about training me and learning how to shift so this never happens again and you won’t ever have to worry about me.”
Graham straight up laughed. “Oh, I’ll always worry about you, baby.”
Her hands trailed up his t-shirt and his cock responded with a twitch. “When you get back we’re going to figure out how to override Jensen’s command.” She glanced up, daring him to object. He grinned.
“We’ll be plenty busy when I first get back. We’ll have two days worth of catching up to do,” Graham teased.
Catherine leaned backward on the bed, her fists tightened in his shirt, dragging him down with her. “Is that so?” she asked, her hands dipping below his shirt now. He braced both hands beside her head.
“Catherine…” he growled in warning as her nails raked down his chest.
“Graham?” she asked, looking up innocently.
“You need to rest. You underwent massive trauma yesterday and you’re still hurting,” he warned. She pouted her lips.
“I’ll be without you for two days,” she began, her hands finding his belt. “I’ll be stuck in a packhouse full of vipers wanting to strike.” Catherine unbuttoned his jeans. “All without your mark. I was thinking…” Catherine cupped his bulge through his pants and he groaned as he pushed himself into her palm. “Maybe we can find another way for you to… leave your mark.”
His eyes jerked up to her. “What did you have in mind?”
Her eyes sparked and she gently pushed him a step back. She smiled wickedly and pulled his jeans down. His cock sprung out and hit against his stomach. She licked her lips while her hands gripped his thighs and her eyes devoured his length. She knelt down in front of him but he moved backward away from her. She glared up at him.
“You need to rest,” he argued again, though his defense was waning.
She huffed and bit his thigh causing his cock to jerk and her eyes to darken with lust. “You want me to rest, I don’t want you to leave. Neither of us are going to get what we want. If you don’t want me to overexert myself then stop fighting, you prude.”
“Prude?” he asked, raising his brow. She crawled forward slightly and ran her hands up his thighs causing him to shiver.
“Yes, prude. Now hush and let me work,” she said, taking a firm hold of his cock.
Her tongue flicked out and licked the precum from his tip and his head fell back at the sharp pinpoint of pleasure. The next moment she was closing her mouth around the first two inches of him and his hand shot out to grip the back of her head. He kept his grip relaxed, not wanting to push her too far as she took more of him in her mouth. He gasped as he felt the back of her throat and she gagged slightly. She moaned and inched closer to take more of him
His hand fisted in her hair as she started to bring him in and out of her mouth in smooth strokes. Her tongue traced up his length as she pulled him and
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flicked out to touch his base. Her hands gripped his thighs as she worked. She pulled him out of her mouth with a pop and ran her tongue along the underside of his dick before taking him back deep into her throat.
She continued to somehow take all of him into her throat with each stroke. He’d never felt such pleasure before. No one had ever sucked him so well. A gnawing jealousy crept up the base of his spine.
“Fuck, baby, I don’t even want to think about how you got so good at this,” he whispered, tightening his hand in her hair as she looked up at him with mischief in her eyes.
That look alone made him jerk forward, forcing himself deeper and causing her to gag. He threw his head back and pushed himself in again. Her nails dug into his thigh, a silent warning. Then she surprised him by cupping his balls and his knees wobbled slightly. She caressed his balls and gently traced the delicate skin sending shivers of pleasure through his abdomen and into his chest. He should really be lying down for this, he felt like he would fall to the floor on top of her at any moment.
His release was coming and he placed his free hand on her shoulder, kneading the flesh there like a satisfied kitten while he savored the delicious stroke of her tongue and the warm suction of her mouth. His nails dug into her shoulder and his hand tightened in her hair as his release came but just before he came in her mouth she pulled away.
Graham hissed at the loss but then his attention was riveted to her as she directed his release to her chest and breasts. He leaned heavily against her shoulder, watching in awe as she used the fingers of her free hand to spread his cum along her entire torso, down her stomach and up to her throat. His breathing was harsh, not sure how to stifle the feeling of pride, lust and curiosity as she unknowingly performed a sacred lycan breeding ritual.
When her gaze finally lifted to his, her brown eye was black and her blue glowed bright. Just when he thought she couldn’t get any hotter, she inserted those same fingers into her mouth and cleaned his seed from them with a breathy moan. His cock swelled to life again and she grinned in triumph, the little
slut.
“That’s it,” he hissed.
She shrieked playfully as he yanked her up off the floor and lifted her to the bed. He kept her hips up against the edge of the bed and spread her legs so he could step between them. He lined himself up at her entrance but then paused.
“Tell me if I’m hurting you,” he warned.
She gave him a breathtaking smile. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Graham grunted as he pierced her core. She moaned loudly and stretched her arms above her head, lengthening her torso and becoming even sexier. He knew he should hold back but he simply couldn’t as he pounded into her. With each violent stroke she released a cry of pleasure that only amped him up further. He gripped the edge of the bed as she wrapped her legs around his waist, keeping him close and preventing him from pulling too far away from her. He ground his hips against hers, pushing his cock as deep as he could in this position. He growled, not thinking it deep enough. He gripped her leg and lifted it to his shoulder. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as he reached a new depth.
He placed the pad of his thumb against her clit and rubbed slow circles, sharply contrasting his quick thrusts. Her hands fisted in the bed sheets and her cries of pleasure turned almost feral as she reached her peak and fell over it. He grunted as he continued to pump into her, seeking his own release for the second time. He threw his head back as his balls tightened and his seed filled her. He collapsed forward, resting his head against her stomach as his knees finally collapsed and hit the floor. Catherine ran her hands through his hair as he regained his breath. They sat like that for some time.
“Promise me it will only be two days,” she whispered to his head.
“I promise.”
“Promise me you’ll call every day.”
He looked up at his mate and she quickly schooled her worried expression. “I promise. I love you, Catherine.”
She swiped a tear from her cheek. “I love you too.”
Fifteen minutes later, Graham stepped out of the bedroom and leaned back against the door. He heard her shuffling around the room, probably unsure of what to do now that he was leaving. Then he heard the window open and he smiled, knowing she would be looking out until she saw him disappear into the woodline, and heard his howl of farewell like she’d also made him promise to do.
Graham pushed off the wall and started to head to the second level to meet Theo, Jensen and the rest of his small team. He pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Lucas to confirm his arrival time and his orders. At the top of the stairway he paused, his finger hovering over another, newer, name in his
contact list. He hit the call icon and waited for the answer.
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Chapter Thirty-Six
“Who the fuck is this?” the gruff wolf immediately asked on the other end.
Graham smirked and started walking down the stairs. “Someone with a hefty bank account balance in need of your services. Interested?”
Surrendering to Destiny
