Chapter Thirty-Nine
“What the fuck happened to her?! I want to speak to my mate now!” Graham called, rousing Catherine from the darkness.
“She’s waking up, hold the fuck on,” Jensen demanded.
“Catherine? Catherine!” Graham called. “Why isn’t she answering me?”
Catherine opened her eyes to find an audience surrounding her. She was still on the padding of the training room. Jensen hovered above her, holding a phone. Lucas was holding her head in his lap and running his hands over her hair. Nancy held her wrist, checking her pulse while her assistant clutched a clipboard in her arms, looking nervous. She squinted in confusion when she noticed Natalie standing there looking worried too. Catherine glanced around, wondering where Graham was.
“How are you feeling?” Nancy asked, her brows drawn together in curiosity.
She tried to move but her entire body felt stiff. “Sore,” Catherine answered. Nancy’s assistant took some notes.
“Catherine!” Graham called again.
Jensen squatted down and held the phone closer to her. She tried to reach for it but her hand fell limp.
“Graham?”
She heard an audible sigh of relief from the other end. “Baby, you fucking scared me. What happened?”
She glanced around, trying to remember. “Nothing…”
“Nothing?” he roared. “I am 100 miles away and your pain buckled me to the ground and you’re telling me it was nothing?!”
She blinked a few times. “You… felt it too?”
He scoffed. “Our bond isn’t formed so I only felt a fraction of it. Tell me what happened now.”
“I tried to shift.”
There was silence on the other end. “Jensen. I told you to wait.”
“I thought she could handle it. It shouldn’t have been as difficult or painful.”
“Shouldn’t have?!”
“Nancy, any ideas what may have happened?” Jensen asked, ignoring Graham.
Nancy shrugged. “I don’t have much experience with half-br…” she coughed. “Lycan, werewolf hybrids. I’ll have to do some research.”
“Your best educated guess?”
She sighed. “My guess… She’s only ever shifted as a wolf but the lycan gene is dominant, made more so by her mate being full lycan. When she recognized her mate, the gene kicked in to accept him. By not accepting the bond fully though it’s thrown her body into a state of limbo.”
“Great, another repercussion to your fucking command!” Graham yelled.
“Does that mean I’m… I’m turning into a lycan?” Catherine asked.
Again Nancy shrugged. “I need to do some research. We’ve only ever accepted full wolves into the pack. They remain wolves even after accepting their mate’s lycan venom.”
“So when the next full moon comes…”
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Chapter Thirty-Nine
“If you are not fully mated the same thing could happen even with the moon’s assistance,” she explained.
“Catherine, take me off speaker,” Graham ordered. Jensen did as he said and handed her the phone. Seeing her struggle, Lucas held the phone to her ear for
her.
“Graham…” Catherine whispered, emotion clogging her voice. “Where are you?”
“I’m far away, Baby, I’m sorry. Are you hurting?”
“N-no,” she whispered, knowing if she told him the truth there was nothing he could do about it anyway.
“Do you remember what I told you when we got home from seeing my family? We’ve gotten to that point. Tell me the truth,” he demanded.
She knew he was referring to not tolerating her lies. “I’m just sore.”
He sighed, accepting she wouldn’t own up fully to how she was feeling. “I will be home soon. We’re closing in on them. No more training until I can be there, understood?”
“Okay,” she conceded.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Hand me to Lucas so I can talk to him,” he said.
Lucas took the phone, having been able to hear their whole conversation like everyone else in the room. Natalie squatted down and helped Catherine into a seated position.
“I can take you to the locker room. You can take a shower and I have a change of clothes you can use,” Natalie whispered, giving her a shy smile.
Catherine glanced down and noticed her clothes were in tatters hanging loosely from her body. There was deep bruising along her skin and she hissed when Natalie helped her all the way up.
Lucas watched her carefully. “Yeah, that was her,” he answered something Graham asked. “Yeah, I’ll make sure of it. I got her, Man.”
Natalie led her out of the room, offering her shoulder as support. They reached the locker room and Natalie deposited her in the shower stall with a bench. The hot water helped pull her out of her fog. The memory resurfaced and with her eyes closed, she analyzed it quietly to herself.
Was it really Dominic? Had he found her so long ago and known about her gift so far back? It couldn’t be. It must just be her traumas merging together to form just one memory. There was no way he’d found her as a child and bade his time. There was no way he was so patient, no way he was so cruel. Even as she thought it though, she knew it wasn’t true.
When she was done with her shower, she limped out to the main area with a towel wrapped around her. Natalie was waiting on a bench with a stack of clothes sitting beside her. Her legs rocked back and forth as she waited for Catherine to change.
“So… all that noise was just from you shifting?” Natalie asked. Catherine only nodded. “I didn’t realize you couldn’t…”
Catherine laughed. “It’s not like I enjoy broadcasting it. Rogue, half-breed and shiftless? Can you imagine what people would say?”
Natalie scoffed. “I can imagine what Graham would do to those who said it.”
“Graham’s not here though, is he?” a sickening sweet voice said to their left.
They both glanced over to see Arabella clad in nothing but a towel. Her hands were on her hips as she observed them both with keen eyes. Two other women stepped up behind her. One was toweling her hair while the other checked her manicure.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt your scissoring sesh,” Natalie quipped, sitting back on the palms of her hands.
Arabella’s eyes cut to her. “Funny,” Arabella said, face blank. Her expression soon twisted though into a maniacal grin. “Not as funny as what I just heard.
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Chapter Thirty-Nine
Shiftless, huh? Sounds like the moon goddess really wanted to make it easy for Graham to reject you.”
Natalie growled low. “Watch yourself, slut,” Natalie warned.
“Or what?” the girl checking her manicure asked.
“Or I’ll knock your teeth out,” Natalie threatened as she stood up to her full height.
“Don’t get yourself hurt over her,” Arabella hissed, looking at Catherine with disdain.
Natalie blocked her view. “Trust me, I’m not the one who’d be getting hurt. Lay a finger on her and you’ll not just get Graham’s wrath, but Alpha Jensen’s
too.”
“And why is that? Even he won’t accept her into the pack. She’s worthless,” Arabella argued, crossing her arms and raising her perky little breasts.
“He’s my father,” Catherine finally spoke up. This statement made the girls behind Arabella balk and take a few uncertain steps back. Instead Arabella just chuckled.
“Let’s tally this all up then shall we…” she started. “Rogue. Half-bred. Shiftless. Result of bond infidelity. Mateless. Abandoned. Unrecognized by her own father.” At each insult Arabella raised a finger. “Am I missing anything?”
Natalie growled and launched herself at the unsuspecting woman. She latched her arms and legs around her as Arabella tried to fight her off. A knife appeared in Natalie’s hand and she started stabbing Arabella in the shoulders, causing the woman to shriek. Finally she managed to get Natalie off and pin her to the lockers. She banged Natalie’s head against the metal until blood trickled from her nose and mouth.
A breeze blew by Catherine and suddenly Arabella was no longer on Natalie. Instead she was being held in the air by a furious Lucas. Catherine rushed to Natalie as quickly as her numb body would let her. Natalie wiped the blood from her mouth and smiled before licking the blood from her finger.
“Yummy, been a while since I tasted my own blood,” she grinned, showing Catherine her blood covered teeth.
“You’re a freak just like your mate,” Arabella wheezed against the tight grip Lucas had on her throat.
“Shut the fuck up, Arabella,” Lucas warned, drawing her attention back to him.
“Couldn’t resist me anymore, Luke? I hate to disappoint but I’m still not interested,” Arabella winked.
He scoffed. “Don’t flatter yourself. I wouldn’t touch your dusty old pussy with a ten foot pole.”
“Her mate didn’t seem to mind,” Arabella taunted, causing Catherine’s hands to clench into a tight fist.
“Please, the only reason Grey even touched you was because he thought you’d be smart enough to know nothing more would ever happen between you two. You were an easy lay and nothing more, bitch.”
“We’ll see about that, now won’t we,” Arabella whispered, determination in her eyes.
“Didn’t he already warn you to stay away from his mate? How do you think he’ll react to find out you not only disobeyed him but laid a hand on his little sister? Maybe he’ll let Theo have a go at you with his knives?” Lucas pondered. The threat landed. Arabella’s eyes widened slightly and Catherine caught the glimmer of pride in Natalie’s eyes. Lucas threw Arabella carelessly aside. “This is your last warning, Arabella. Stay the fuck away from Graham and Catherine. You old bitch.”
Lucas turned to Catherine and Natalie. He helped Catherine up. He practically carried her back into the packhouse and to Graham’s room. Natalie brushed past them at the door.
“I’m staying with you tonight,” Natalie informed her. “It’s too quiet in the house with Theo gone and my vibrator could use a recharge.”
Natalie collapsed face first onto the bed. Lucas set Catherine down and she thanked him.
“My room is right next door if y’all need anything. I’ll even turn my girls away for the night. Just for you,” he said with a wink.
“Your sacrifice is saint-like,” Natalie quipped from the bed.
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Chapter Thirty-Nine
Lacas turned to leave but Catherine stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Lucas, I know he is going to want to know what happened today. Just don’t tell him… everything, okay? He doesn’t need to know how weak I was around them.”
“Them?” he asked. Catherine gave him a meaningful look. “If he knows he can do something about those hoes.”
She sighed. “I can handle it. Don’t tell him about all the bad shit. Promise?”
Lucas stared into her eyes for a moment before he let out a defeated sigh. His shoulders sagged. “Fine,” he whined. He leaned closer with a devilish grin. “I’ll be replaying the look Lucille had on her face after you smacked her though. That shit made me hard.”
“EW! Get out! Or I’m telling Graham you said that to his mate!” Natalie yelled.
Lucas laughed and shook his head before leaving. Catherine watched him walk to his room and disappear inside. Once he was gone and Catherine closed the door, Natalie sat up on her elbows.
“So what was it you didn’t want Graham to know?” she asked.
Catherine sighed. “Where to begin…”
Surrendering to Destiny
