Chapter Ninety-Nine
“Release him,” Graham ordered. The two men immediately dropped him as if they’d been scalded by water.
“Where is she?” Toma demanded again, glancing around with fierce determination.
“She’s here,” Graham said, turning just enough for Toma to glimpse Catherine more clearly.
“Not her,” Toma barked. “Chloe. Where the fuck is she?”
“She’s your mate,” Catherine said in a quiet voice of realization.
Graham felt his eyes bulge and looked back at the wolf. Toma’s face fell and twisted. He raised his chin up into the air and inhaled deeply.
“Yeah.”
“Oh no, Toma,” Catherine whispered.
Graham remembered the story she’d told Mable about what happened to his father and his pack. Of course the Moon Goddess would then test the boy by choosing a witch for his mate.
“I was in the back office talking to her when the spell hit. I couldn’t fucking move! Within seconds some asshat came in looking all calm and collected. Fuck, she was so scared,” Toma recalled. He scrubbed his face with his hands as he tried to take back control of his emotions. “He took her out of the room. I heard her scream and beg… then nothing. When I could move again, these fuckers grabbed me,” Toma said, pointing back at the two guards behind him. “Now… I can’t fucking find her!”
“I guess we know what Dominic was after,” Jensen said.
Lucien nodded. “He means to corrupt her too and then he’ll have two sources of power at his disposal.”
“Corrupt? What the hell are you talking about?” Toma asked.
Jensen groaned. “We don’t have time for twenty questions. We need to get my daughter back to the pack for safety. Only there can she be…”
“You don’t speak for me!” Catherine suddenly yelled. Graham ducked his head against the shrill sound of her voice.
The darkness he’d been feeling slowly build within her and grow with each word Jensen breathed, pulsed out from her now like a heartbeat. Graham turned to see her right eye pitch black with her left eye glowing.
“Baby…”
“Is what Dominic said true?! Huh?!”
Jensen’s face paled at her psychotic expression. “I…”
“Did you throw my mother away like trash for a freaking title?” she asked.
Graham took hold of her hands but she merely batted them away. The darkness had completely enveloped every other emotion in her. So much so that it leached through their bond. He closed his eyes as he fought to beat back his instincts to shift and protect her.
“Catherine…” Graham pleaded, trying to ground her.
“Did you know she was pregnant?!” The darkness expanded outward and everyone in the room started to cautiously back up.
“Kitty…” Toma whispered, fear lacing his voice.
“Jensen, leave the room now!” Graham warned.
“No, I can take it,” Jensen insisted. He kept his eyes on his daughter and used one hand to push Rebecca back toward the door.
Chapter Ninety-Nine
“Grey, you need to do something, she’s about to go into a haze,” Lucas warned.
“You think I don’t know that?” Graham groaned. Then softer, “Baby, let’s go home. We can talk about this…”
“No,” Catherine growled, her own voice lost to be replaced with something completely foreign, the voice he’d heard in his mind earlier,
“Catherine, I thought Esme was joking about the child… you,” Jensen tried to explain. “She was the only oracle known to the public. She could name her price and I thought…”
“You thought she was lying about me to earn more money? When did you find out I was alive?!” Catherine jumped down from the counter and took a step before Graham grabbed her upper arm. Her bones in that arm snapped and her head fell back as she tried to push through the pain.
“When she tried to blackmail me. When I realized what I’d done…”
Catherine let out a growl that shook the glasses on the countertop behind her. Several crashed to the floor.
“I went to Isobel and Lionel,” Jensen continued. “But of course she didn’t remember me. When I questioned them about a daughter, there were no memories of her either.”
Graham felt Catherine’s skin shiver. A yelp left her mouth as several other bones snapped in her back.
“That’s when we went to Esme directly. Before I could get any information, well… Dominic already told you the rest. I continued to believe she’d lied about you. That was until… until you walked into my office with Graham.”
Catherine’s eyes returned to their normal blue and brown. She leaned heavily against Graham’s shoulder. His shirt became wet with her tears. Jensen took a few cautious steps toward her.
“I looked for you. I swear to the Moon Goddess I searched for you until I convinced myself it was all a lie. I failed you. I am so sorry.”
The brief silence that followed the alpha’s apology broke when a sinister chuckle shook Catherine’s chest. Graham glanced down, convinced his mate couldn’t be the source of the disturbing sound. Instead he found a wide, maniacal grin creasing her perfect face. The chuckle turned into a laugh.
She swiped a tear from her cheek with the back of her hand. Graham took in a sharp breath when he noticed her eyes. Normally neon blue and black when she felt strong emotion, they were now both matte black. He heard several gasps echo around the room but he didn’t look to see who they’d come from.
“You’re sorry? You swear to the Moon Goddess?” Catherine repeated. The laughter grew louder. Graham heard the bones along her spine start to realign. He took a step back in shock. “I hate to break it to you, Daddy. The Moon Goddess isn’t on your side anymore. She chose. And it wasn’t you she believed in.”
Catherine took a threatening step forward. Graham’s eyes widened as he watched his mate shift, her motive singular. Jensen stood rooted in shock too as Catherine’s body elongated and twisted. One moment she was standing there watching her father with pure hatred, the next she was sinking her teeth and claws into his chest and shoulders. Jensen didn’t fight or attempt to defend himself. The room erupted in chaos once again. Graham lurched forward, hoping to stop her before she did something she would regret come tomorrow.
