Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Four
Graham felt water caressing his back and shoulders. He recognized the heat of the cabin dock under his arms. He lifted his head and glanced around, trying to get his bearings. He pulled himself up from the pond. He tested the strength of his drug-laden legs and stood. The air around him was quiet, eerily so. There were no birds fluttering their wings, no frogs singing at the edge of the pond, wind didn’t blow through the trees. He walked down the dock, the cabin Kin sight just over the hill. As he reached the edge of the dock where the wood met grass, he paused.
He heard the sound of bare feet traipsing through grass. He looked up and saw her. Catherine. His heart pounded, his palms became sweaty. She was watching where she stepped, seemingly oblivious to his presence. Her hair was shorter, just past her jawline, and she was far too thin, but the dress she wore billowed around her making her seem ethereal. She frowned down at the ground when all he wanted was to see her smile.
“Catherine,” he choked out.
Catherine’s feet stopped. Her eyes shot up: one brown, one blue but both wide. She cupped her hands over her mouth, denying him the sight of her smile. She took one step and faltered. Her hands lowered and her mouth was ajar in shock.
“Graham? Is it really you?” she asked, softly.
He decided then the drugs were worth it. Anything was worth it to hold her if only for a moment in his dreams. Graham started to run toward her and she did the same. They collided in a tangle of arms and legs. They landed on the soft grass, Catherine beneath him. She cupped his face between her hands as he wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” Catherine whispered.
“I would have slept sooner if I was certain I’d dream of you,” Graham confessed.
Her brows furrowed. “You haven’t slept since I left, have you?”
“I didn’t want to rest until I found you,” Graham told her with conviction.
“We don’t have much time,” Catherine whispered urgently. “Julia will be back with Chloe any minute and…”
“What are you talking about? Just let me enjoy this before I wake up and face the nightmare again,” Graham said, cupping her cheek in his palm. The most delicious feeling of contentment rose in his chest with her in his arms.
Catherine’s hold on his face tightened. “Look at me, Graham,” she ordered. His eyes moved from her neck to her eyes again. “What day is it?”
Graham thought about it. “The 23rd.” Wait… His eyes widened and he glanced around before meeting her eyes. She smiled and ran her hands through his hair. “This isn’t a dream.” Catherine shook her head. His heart hammered. “You’re really here.” She nodded. “Where are you?” he growled, all urgency
restored.
Catherine looked up at him with shimmering eyes. “I don’t know.”
Graham pushed away from her. He sat down beside her and brought his knees up. He looked out at the pond again. “How long have you been trying to
contact me?”
“It’s okay,” Catherine whispered, placing her hand on his forearm.
“How long, Catherine?”
She gave him a sad smile. “Since I got to Dominic’s retreat.”
“Two fucking days.” Graham picked up a rock beside him and flung it toward the lake. “Two fucking days I’ve wasted.”
“I understand. It’s okay, Graham.”
“No, it’s not,” he said, gazing over at her. “Lucas and Theo literally had to drug me to go down.” Graham grabbed his hair in frustration.
“Stop,” Catherine begged.
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Four
She forced his hands away and moved so that she sat in his lap. Graham pulled her close and nuzzled his head into the crook of her shoulder. He inhaled deep. When his arms wrapped around her he remembered how thin she was. He pulled back.
“You’re thin,” he whispered.
“I think they’re lacing my food with Dominic’s blood so I haven’t been eating.”
“Your hair,” he said, resting his hand along her exposed neck.
“Did you buy it?”
He smirked. “Not for a second. Are you hurt?” he asked as his hands wandered around her body.
“No, I’m okay. We need to talk.”
“Yes, of course, just first…”
“What?”
Graham cupped her face and brushed his thumb across her cheek. He pulled her closer until their lips touched. Catherine wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. He felt all of his muscles relax as he pivoted to lay her down underneath him again. He felt her desperation in the kiss, in the way she fisted his shirt in her hands and arched her back up to bring them closer. She needed to feel him, to know he was whole. He needed the same. After a minute, Graham pulled away. He pressed his forehead against hers.
“Now. Tell me.”
Catherine sighed. “He took us North. I’m not sure where but when the plane took off I clearly saw the setting sun.”
“That helps,” Graham assured her.
“Where are you?” Catherine asked, running a hand up his chest.
“Outside of MoonStone. We’re tracking the council members. I believe Dominic will call one of them tonight and they’ll head toward where he’s keeping you. Has he mentioned any visitors?”
Catherine nodded. “He said there are people coming to dinner tonight but didn’t mention names.”
“Damn. When the plane took off, how long were you in the air?”
Catherine closed her eyes to think. “An hour, maybe just under.”
“Good, that’s great, Baby. That helps me.”
“There’s more.” She took in a breath. “Gerald and Morgan are here with Stuart.”
Graham growled. “Fuckers.”
“Muriel’s daughter is a part of this.”
“I know.”
“She put some kind of anti-magic band around my wrists. Chloe has them too.”
“Onyx. Muriel’s invention.”
“I can’t use my gift, even when I shift 1…”
“Shift?” Graham asked, forcing her to look at him.
She nodded. “Dominic tried…” Her mouth twisted as if she was holding back a growl and he couldn’t help but smile at the savage expression. “He tried to hurt me but I went into a haze. I’ve gone into three hazes actually.”
“Good girl. Use whatever you can until I get to you.”
“Graham… Julia, she gave me some kind of heat accelerant. She predicts that with the help of the full moon, I’ll go into heat again. I tried to block my wolf like 1 practiced but with him trying to touch me, I have to be on guard, which means I can’t block my wolf which means I’ll…”
Graham’s grip around her waist tightened. “No. You won’t.” A beat of silence followed while he gazed deeply into her eyes as if to exert his will on her biology. She blinked and looked away. Graham sighed. “Toma is here for Chloe. Have you seen her? Is she…”
“She’s alive, but, Graham, I don’t know how much longer she’ll last. Julia has taught Curtis a way to drain her of magic without her permission. She may need her mate’s mark to make it through this.”
Graham nodded, wondering how he was going to tell the wolf that he had no choice now but to accept his fated mate, understandable hesitancy or not.
“But there’s some good news. I discovered they don’t want to kill you,” she said. He raised a brow in curiosity. “The plan is for me to go into heat and for Dominic to mate and mark me. He thinks the betrayal will be enough to kill you because we are so strongly bonded. In the same way though he thinks if you were to die, it would kill me or at least cause massive trauma to my body and my ability to bear children..”
Graham felt the darkness within him prickling under his skin as a plan began to take form. “You’re saying I could just walk in and they won’t touch me?”
“They won’t kill you,” she agreed. “Not until… after.”
Graham chuckled and for the first time in three days he smiled. “I can certainly work with that,” Graham whispered dangerously.
Graham suddenly rolled. Catherine shrieked as he fell to his back and pulled her so she was straddling his hips above him. He ran his hands up her thighs and Catherine’s head fell back.
“Stop,” she warned.
Graham’s hands trailed up her stomach. “Why? It’s only a dream.”
“I’ve been poisoned with some kind of sex potion. If you get me going here…” She gasped as his hands found her breasts. Without realizing she was doing it, she started gyrating against him, seeking friction.
Graham reached upward with one hand and touched her forehead. She moaned. “You are getting hot,” he observed, with a furrowed brow. “If I take care of you here, will it help you out there?”
“I don’t know… it could make it worse.”
“Hmm,” Graham thought while she continued to move against him. “Then stop.”
“Stop what?” she whispered.
Graham’s hand moved down from her breast to grip her waist hard. Despite his tight hold, she continued to move. Suddenly her eyes opened and she looked down at him. He moved his hands to her thighs and she whimpered.
“What is it?” he asked.
She looked down with tears in her eyes. She placed her hands on his chest and he wondered why he couldn’t feel it.
“You’re waking up,” she whispered.
“No,” Graham growled, sitting up and clutching her tighter.
She wrapped her hands around his neck. “I can’t feel you,” she confirmed. “You’re slipping away.”
“I’ll kill them,” Graham told her.
Her grip on him tightened and she placed her mouth beside her ear. “Thank them for me. They brought you to me.”
“I won’t lose you, Baby. I’m coming for you. Leave your windows open so I can scent you easier. I’ll be there as fast as my legs can carry me. I will find you. I promise. I fucking promise you.”
“I know you will,” she said, her voice fading. “I love you…”
Graham felt an incessant tapping on his shoulder. He smelt cigarette smoke, alcohol, male sweat and vomit. His nose pinched and he groaned.
“Op, there he goes,” Lucas said somewhere in the distance.
“Wakey wakey eggs and bakey,” Theo coaxed. “We have movement on one of the councilmen,” he added. “That should get his attention.”
Graham opened his eyes and stared up at the water damaged ceiling of the hotel bar. Above him Theo and Lucas hovered with wary smiles.
“Heeeyyy,” Lucas said with a little wave. “How mad are you?”
Graham’s mouth twitched and before he knew it he was smiling. Theo’s face fell. “Dear Goddess, he’s smiling.”
“He’s going to kill us all,” Lucas announced to the bar. “Scatter!”
Surrendering to Destiny
