Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Eight
Graham sat with his back to the dank cement wall behind him. He had his legs crossed in front of him and his palms resting on his knees. Behind his closed lids he replayed the image of Catherine staggering up the dungeon steps looking thoroughly fucked. Any minute now Dominic would wake up, smell their mingled scent and figure out what happened. It wasn’t difficult to understand why Catherine had been able to get down to his cell the night before. Graham had counted on Dominic’s ever present arrogance. Despite her constant denial, Dominic still truly believed Esme had been correct in prophesying his bond with Catherine. He thought because she was in heat and Graham was behind bars, she would seek out the closest eager male. He underestimated her bond
with Graham.
Graham felt a sudden sharp jab in his ribcage that hurled him to the ground. He choked and gasped, trying to inflate his lungs through the pain. Another shock of pain came along his ribs followed by another.
“Stop, you fucking son of a bitch. Come and take it out on me,” Graham hissed.
He continued to feel an invisible assault and fear raced through him. Just as he began to doubt the lengths Dominic would go to in a haze of jealous anger, the pain stopped. He breathed a sigh of relief for his mate and hoped she’d have time to recover before she felt his own ordeal.
Graham sat up and tried to seem composed. He heard shouts and the thunder of feet above his head. A moment later the door to the basement slammed open and feet stomped down the steps. Dominic DeAngelo stood before the cell door. His hair hung haphazardly over his red face. His shoulders heaved. The skin along his arms crawled with his desire to shift and his eyes glowed bright.
“Good morning,” Graham greeted cheerfully. “You look well-rested. I suppose we spent our night doing far different things.” Graham pulled his lips into a sinister smile of triumph.
Dominic clutched the iron bars and pulled. The doors broke with a snap and he flung it aside. He stepped in and punched Graham in the jaw. Graham’s head collided with the cement floor with a crack. His vision blurred and nausea threatened to make him vomit as Dominic hauled him back up. Dominic probed the fresh mark along Graham’s neck and screamed in anger. He drove his fist into him again. He kicked Graham over and over until blood was spurting from his mouth with each hit.
“Easy, Dom, you’ll kill him,” Dominic’s beta warned from the other side of the bars.
Dominic stepped away and screamed in anger. “I don’t care! I want him dead! He touched what’s mine!”
Graham pulled himself up and reached into his pant’s pocket. He pulled Catherine’s ripped panties and dabbed his split lip. He looked up at Dominic’s wide- eyed expression. Graham held the panties up to his nose and inhaled.
“Mmm, Catherine in heat. There’s nothing sweeter,” Graham taunted.
Dominic turned and pulled a bar from the cell. He flipped it in his hand and then gripped it like a bat. Graham braced himself. I’m so sorry, Catherine. The bar cracked against his knee. Graham groaned and bit his lip to keep from screaming. The bar came down on his other knee. His head fell back against the wall. The bar connected with his rib cage and Graham lurched forward and vomited. Dominic continued to beat him with the bar. He felt several bones break in his spine along with most of his ribs.
“Dom! Stop!” his beta continued to warn him.
“Seriously, are you stupid?” a feminine voice asked from the doorway.
Dominic dropped the bar and kicked Graham, sending him to his back. He lay flat on the cold ground getting soaked with his blood. He looked up at the ceiling with blank eyes as he pushed the pain to the back recesses of his mind.
“Hello… Julia,” Graham wheezed.
“Hey Graham. Nice to see you… I think.”
“What the fuck are you doing down here?” Dominic growled. “I told you to check on Catherine.”
“I did but then she started having a fit and I put two and two together. You’re fucking killing her you jackass.”
“I don’t care! They…. He…”
“Fucked, yeah I got that.”
Julia made a sound of surprise. Graham looked over to see Dominic’s hand wrapped around her throat. Julia’s eyes narrowed before they turned violet. Dominic’s own airway was cut off. He released her and they both separated while trying to get their air back.
“They didn’t just have sex! Look at his neck! They marked each other. She’s no longer in heat. His venom…” Dominic growled. Unable to wrangle his. emotions any more, he shifted.
Dominic in his wolf form towered over Graham. His teeth came down and latched onto his shoulder. He pressed his large paw in the center of Graham’s chest and slowly extended his claws. Graham groaned as the sharp claws pierced his skin, his ribs, his lungs and deeper. Then the pressure was gone.
He heard a lot of scuffling and cursing. Growls ripped through the air as two wolves fought each other. Probably the beta trying to keep his alpha from making a huge mistake and ruining twenty-six years of planning. Graham just continued to look up at the ceiling while he waited for the end to come. He only needed a few seconds. That’s all his heart would need to stop in order for Muriel’s magic to kick in.
“It’s Luna Catherine!” Someone yelled from the stairs. “Something’s happening to her! She’s spitting up blood!”
Julia sighed and he heard the sound of bones shifting. “Like I said, he’s obviously playing you. He wants you to kill him, Genius.”
“You’re right,” Dominic relented. “I’m fine. I’m good. Go see Catherine.”
“Have you ever felt her cum around you?” Graham taunted from the floor. He let his head fall to the side to look at the alpha. He laughed once and coughed up blood. “I know you haven’t. To feel her tight little muscles clamp around my dick and know I’m the only one she’ll ever come for. Mmmm… You want me to describe it for you so you’ll be able to imagine it properly?” Graham started to laugh.
“Dominic, no!” Julia yelled.
Graham felt the sharp end of the broken iron bar pierce through his chest. His eyes flew wide at the searing white-hot agony that swept over his body.
“No!”
His mate’s scream of anguish echoed around the house. Blood bubbled up in his mouth and black ringed his vision.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, Dominic! What did you do?!” Dominic’s Beta yelled.
The rod was pulled from his chest and blood flowed freely. A phone rang in the distance.
“What is it?” Dominic hissed. He heard muffled screams. “What? She’s what?”
“I warned you,” Julia whispered.
“Fuck! Do something. Now!”
Graham felt small soft hands brushing over his chest. He felt breath against his ear.
“I know what you’re up to,” Julia whispered. “He’s out there, isn’t he? Waiting?” Graham nodded. “I help you do this… I save your life and we’re even, right? You won’t stand in the way of what I will do to my dad?” Graham nodded again. Julia purred as she sat back up.
Graham closed his eyes and felt the world as he knew it slip slowly away. He saw a bright light that warmed the skin of his face. He felt as though he were floating. Then something stabbed him in the chest. He was falling. He picked up speed as his body raced through the air. He crashed back down onto the soiled cell floor. His eyes opened and his chest lurched upward as he sucked in air.
Julia gave him a knowing smirk as the other people in the cell gasped.
“What the fuck is that?” Dominic asked, pointing to the pools of blood around them that were turning a glowing purple. “Are you doing this?” Dominic asked Julia.
Julia sat up and feigned surprise. “Me?! No! I warned you not to hurt him. He must… he must have been cursed or Muriel put some kind of spell on him
and…”
“And what?” Dominic asked,
“His heart stopped,” Julia gasped. “My father, he was known for doing this spell to break down wards from the inside. He would mix the spell with his blood
Chapter ne rundred and Twenty-clyn
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and then transfuse it into a donor. The donor would trojan horse into the ward and when the person’s heart stopped… it was activated.”
“What was activated?” Dominic’s beta asked.
Before Julia could answer, a loud explosion rocked the house above them, sending everyone to the floor.
Surrendering to Destiny
