Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-One
“Where’s my mate, Theo?” Graham growled as he fought the urge to pummel both of his friends into the ground.
“Yeah, about that,” Theo began. Graham lurched forward, trying to grab Theo and enact his dark thoughts. Theo scrambled back and to his feet. “Calm down! She’s okay! Dominic shot me with a silver bullet and then Gerald’s pack came at me when I was only a few feet away. They escaped into some tunnels!”
“If she’s hurt, I’ll fucking…”
“Grey! Enough!” Lucas shouted, grabbing Graham by the shoulder and flinging him back. “We’re kind of in the middle of something here!”
Graham looked around at the rogue army to their front and the lycan reinforcements moving down from the house.
“Yeah, Grey,” Marty mocked. “This will be a lot more fun for us if you pay attention,” Marty said, punctuating the last two words by punching his fist into his flattened palm.
Graham sighed. How far out are the others? he mindlinked Theo and Lucas.
Matter of minutes, Lucas answered.
We need a distraction, Theo suggested, studying his cuticles as if they weren’t strategizing in front of everyone.
Just then Gerald’s lycans started to go into a frenzy. The three Blackmoore men turned to the house and watched with their mouths open as Toma walked out in his human form carrying Chloe in his arms. A violet orb surrounded the pair as lycans clawed and snapped at them. Toma’s expression was stern. He gripped his mate tight to his chest. His eyes locked onto Graham and he nodded.
Uh, what about that? Lucas suggested.
“Good as any,” Graham agreed.
“When you shift, it’s going to hurt like hell,” Theo warned.
“Yeah, well, I’ll heal faster. How far out are they now, Lucas?” Graham asked, as he forced himself to stand.
“One minute.”
“Let’s go then,” he said. Toma and Chloe were now half-way down the steps. Graham’s bones began to crack and shift. “The second reinforcements get here, we leave the pests for them and go after my mate. Understood?”
Neither of his friends needed to answer. They shifted seamlessly and lunged forward to take on the lycans and wolves surrounding them. Graham met Marty’s eyes. Pain swept through his body as if he was shifting for the first time. His eyesight sharpened and power surged through his being as he let himself over to instinct.
Graham tore into flesh as he fought off the wolves and lycans surrounding them. The three Blackmoore lycans formed a circle to defend Chloe and Toma. Toma laid Chloe on the ground. He stood in order to shift but her hand on his arm stopped him. He lowered himself back down and held her close while her protection continued to pulse around them.
“Graham,” Chloe whispered.
Graham growled as he used his sharp claws to rip off the arms of a stubborn wolf. In the distance he could hear the Blackmoore lycans closing in on the scene. A breath of relief swept through his bones. He continued his attack, ignoring Chloe’s pleas behind him. His focus was singular: kill as many as he could in as little time as possible so he could get to Catherine.
A wave of enemy wolves and lycans pushed closer which told him they were being met with another force on the other side. He glanced above the dozens of shifted heads and recognized his own men as they began to tear into the enemy. He looked back at the house and then around himself, trying to gauge if he could leave.
“Graham, listen to me!” Chloe yelled above the chaos.
Graham groaned and he finally turned to face her. He shifted and walked into the orb surrounding her and her mate. Toma gave him a curt nod and clutched her closer to his chest. Graham didn’t bother even rolling his eyes at the unnecessary gesture.
1/3
“I don’t have time, Chloe, I need…”
“I killed him. I killed Curtis,” she revealed. Tears brimmed her eyes and fell down her cheeks. “I killed my own brother.”
“It’s okay, Chloe,” Graham reassured her. “He was doing the same to you. Whatever you had to do to convince him to set you free. It had to be done.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t do anything. He came to me. He was desperate. He planned to strip me of my magic by force. Something changed.” She looked at Graham as if sensing something for the first time, “Your bond. It’s weak.” Her face fell. “How… How did you bring the ward down, Graham?”
“Muriel. He had a way to sabotage the magic. A blood spell. I had to die in order to activate it.”
Chloe’s eyes widened as he explained. “You died?” Graham nodded. “Your bond. Your death did something to your bond.” She reached a hand out and grasped his arm. Her knuckles whitened as realization dawned. “Curtis needed extra magic. Protection. He knew what was happening. With your bond weakened, Dominic can claim Catherine without a heat. He can force her, Graham!”
The sounds of carnage and the stench of blood paled in comparison to the terror gripping his heart. Was that why he couldn’t communicate with her? His death had somehow severed their bond in some way?
“Theo said he saw Catherine go into some kind of tunnel.”
“I saw it too,” Toma said, his first words in days.
Graham ignored the fact that Toma also failed to save Catherine. “Chloe, do you know where the tunnels lead or have you heard anything about Dominic’s contingency plans?”
She shook her head. “There was never a backup plan. There was only one. I heard them discussing the tunnels. Something about an escape route.”
“The maps showed a landing field a mile or two west,” Toma supplied. “Perhaps they mean to flee to another location.”
“No,” Chloe said. “He won’t wait that long. He won’t take the chance. He’ll claim her before they take off.”
Graham glanced around. The enemy packs were slowly being decimated. Blackmoore was making headway.
“I need to get moving,” Graham said, standing.
“I’ll come too,” Toma said.
“No!” Chloe screamed. “Don’t, don’t leave me, please.”
Toma gave Graham a look of helplessness. Graham sighed and rubbed his face. “You won’t be of any use to me here,” Graham said, saving Toma from making the decision. “You’ll be too worried about her to focus. Get her somewhere safe. Then check in. Hopefully it’ll be over by then but if not…”
Toma nodded. He leaned down and scooped Chloe into his arms. “I’ll be back.”
With that Toma sprinted through the frenzy. Chloe looked back over his shoulder, her expression creased with worry. As her orb of protection left him, Graham was knocked in the side.
Teeth sank into his shoulder and he screamed in anger. He shifted and spun to face his attacker. Marty in his wolf form snarled back. Graham shook his head. Marty lunged forward and Graham dodged. Marty dug his claws into the dirt to stop himself and turned. A second wolf jumped onto Graham’s back. Marty growled and lunged for the second wolf. He threw the second wolf off and snapped his teeth, staking his claim.
Marty flew through the air and managed to barely knick the skin of his back before Graham flung him off. Marty growled in frustration and jumped again. His snapping teeth met air as Graham grabbed his legs and delivered a swift blow with his claws in the ribcage. Marty fell to the ground and whined. Graham stood over him and planted a foot in Marty’s back, just as he had done when he first tracked him and dragged him to the cabin to accept Juno’s rejection.
Lucas, Graham called through the mindlink. I have a present for you.
A moment later a hulking black lycan skulked through the fighting. Most wolves and lycans steered clear of the alpha lycan, choosing instead to go for the smaller warriors. As he walked, Lucas would grab one of the cowardly wolves, slice his claws across their throat and throw them aside. All the while, his eyes remained locked on the former alpha-in-training lying beneath Graham’s foot. Marty started to squirm as he noticed his grim reaper growing closer.
2/3
Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-One
When Lucas was within a few feet, he shifted. His human skin was covered in dirt and dried blood that was not his own. He smiled, a twisted promise about to be fulfilled. “I told you I would kill you with my bare hands, Pup,” Lucas whispered with sinister intent. “Let him up, Grey. Let him fight and die with what little courage he has in those pathetic, woman-beating bones of his.”
Graham complied and removed his foot. Immediately Marty took off into the fray. Lucas tsked. He didn’t shift. He didn’t run. He merely turned in the direction Marty had run off in. He strode leisurely through the crowd, intent on following his prey.
Graham had enough. He looked west, toward where the map had shown the landing field. He lifted his nose but did not scent his mate. She must still be underground. He glanced around and nodded at the work his men were doing with the thinning rogue and Gerald lycan packs. A breeze blew past him and with it carried a familiar orange sherbert scent. His skin itched and his blood pounded in his head.
Jensen…
I’ve caught the scent. I’m on my way, Jensen responded.
There was no more time to waste. He needed to get to Catherine. Graham didn’t wait another second, he ran toward the scent, toward his heart.
Surrendering to Destiny
