Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen
Graham waited propped in the kitchen doorway while he let Catherine pack him a few meals for the day. She walked around the kitchen with a content smile and he treasured every second of it. Today would be hell. He had men to interrogate, the markings along the fenceline to look at and a meeting with Nathan’s beta in Sterling later. He wasn’t sure what Nathan’s beta wanted but had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with the state of the alpha’s son.
Catherine stepped up in front of him and handed over the cooler she’d packed. She stood on her toes and kissed him. Before he could deepen the kiss, the doorbell rang. Her forehead scrunched together and she raised a brow at him.
“I’ve sent for company,” he informed her. He strode down the hall and opened the door.
Lucas gave him a beaming smile and tightened the arm he had around Juno’s shoulder. Juno rolled her eyes while trying to hide a smile of her own. Graham had to admit that the few hours of rest and protection from Lucas seemed to have done wonders. Most of her bruising had disappeared and the mark on her neck was nearly healed.
“Juno!” Catherine screamed and shoved him out of the way to embrace her friend. “How are you?” she asked, pushing Juno back to look her over.
“I was doing better before you started throwing me around like a rag doll. Damn,” Juno answered but pulled Catherine into another hug anyway.
“What are you guys doing here?” Catherine asked. She looked up at Graham.
“I thought it might be nice for you guys to catch up together. You know, stay here and watch a movie or…”
“We’re on house arrest, Kitty,” Juno explained.
“You’re not under house arrest, per say,” Lucas began.
“Are we allowed to leave the house?” Juno asked, raising a brow.
Lucas’ smile fell slightly. “Well… no.”
“It’s fine,” Catherine said, waving Lucas off. “I was planning on inviting her over anyway. Staying at home and having a girls day with my best friend sounds perfect.”
“Awww,” Juno cooed, pulling Catherine into another hug. “That’s true. Lucas doesn’t even have a couch… Or a second bed.”
Lucas shrugged. “I didn’t think we’d need one,” he responded with a devilish smile that spoke volumes. Juno scoffed and shoved his shoulder playfully before walking into the house. Lucas followed behind like a love-sick puppy. “Hey, you’re not going to even kiss me goodbye?”
Catherine watched while Juno smiled and pushed Lucas’ chest to keep him from kissing her. Graham watched Catherine. She looked back up at him and her cheeks turned pink. He brushed some loose hair behind her ear. He leaned down and kissed her, savoring the way her lips felt against his.
“Don’t leave the house,” he whispered, looking deeply into her eyes. “Don’t answer the door for anyone you don’t know. Promise?”
She nodded. “I promise.”
“Good girl. I love you,” he said as he brushed his thumb across her cheek.
“I love you too, Graham. Be safe today.”
“Always.”
Graham called for Lucas to hurry up and the two of them walked toward Lucas’ Jeep.
“I see the two of you made up?” Lucas teased with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
“I see Juno is still shutting you down?” Graham teased right back.
Lucas’ expression fell and he pointed a scornful finger at him. “I have her right where I want her.”
1/4
Graham shook his head. “Let’s go.”
After checking in with Theo and Toma who he’d put in charge of interrogating the rogues they’d captured, Lucas and Graham began their journey toward Sterling. Due to the beta reaching out to Graham specifically, Jensen agreed it would be best if he went on his own. He might not speak as freely with another alpha in the room.
Paul had set aside the same room as before for them to talk in private. Lucas entered ahead of Graham to make sure everything was secure. Beta Kyle and Gamma Luther waited patiently for them to take their seats.
“Look, gentlemen,” Graham began. “If this is about Marty Caldwell…”
“You already know?” Beta Kyle cut him off, his expression one of shock.
Graham sighed. “His fated mate is best friends with my mate. What happened last night was an unfortunate circumstance but the kid deserved a beating for what he’d done to the girl,” Graham explained.
Lucas snorted. “He deserved far worse, actually.”
Kyle and Luther exchanged a look of confusion. “We are fully aware of Juno Travis… Alpha Nathan has discussed his treatment of the girl with Marty and has commanded he bring her to the packhouse where she will be treated as the future luna.”
“Like hell that will happen,” Lucas growled.
“Is there something going on between you two?” Kyle asked.
“You’re damn right there’s…”
bo
“Lucas,” Graham warned. Lucas shut his mouth but crossed his arms and sat back in aggravation. Graham focused back on the beta. “If you aren’t here because of the ass beating we gave him, why are you here?”
*Ever since the rogue sightings and your interrogation training, we’ve been doing a deep dive into our security and intel,” Kyle began.
“A few weeks ago,” Luther continued, “I discovered a leak. Someone was giving out information on our fence’s weak points, who was in charge, the process of catching rogues, everything. After the incident last week, on a hunch, I looked into Marty.”
“There was something about the way he acted that night,” Kyle explained. “Like he was thrilled about the turn of events.”
Luther nodded and opened his mouth to continue until Graham held up his hand. “Are you trying to tell me that Alpha Nathan’s son was the leak?”
Kyle and Luther nodded together. “That’s not all,” Luther said.
“We discovered who he was leaking our information to.”
“We traced his calls to a phone number with an Oregon area code.”
Graham growled. “Dominic.”
Kyle nodded. “We thought you would want to know.”
Graham nodded, trying to keep his tunneling vision from taking over. He remembered something Marty had said the day before when he smelled Catherine.
“I knew you would come.” Graham glanced over at Lucas and he shook his head, the anger and understanding shone in his eyes.
“Where is he?” Graham asked.
Luther and Kyle exchanged a worried glance. “We don’t know.”
“Let’s go,” Graham ordered. Lucas was already on his feet and out the door.
Graham followed behind and called his mate. Catherine answered on the second ring and his heart slowed considerably at the sound of her laughter.
2/4
“H-hello?” Catherine said around a giggle.
“Hey, Baby.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice immediately sobering.
“Nothing,” he instinctively replied.
“Graham, remember what we talked about? Goddess, you’re an hour and a half away and I can still feel your anxiety.”
Graham smirked to himself as he strode out the door. He noticed Lucas on his phone and wondered if he was speaking to Juno.
Graham sighed. “Marty was working for Dominic.” There was a heavy silence on the other end of the line. “Catherine?”
“I heard you. What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Graham.”
“I’m not lying to you, Baby. I’m going to figure it out. We’re heading back to Blackmoore now. Remember what I said. Don’t leave the house and don’t answer the door for anyone you don’t know,” he reminded her.
“Yeah, I won’t. I promise,” she added. “I love you.”
“I love you too. I’ll see you soon.”
Graham slid in the passenger seat. Lucas put the car in gear while he continued his phone call.
“… I don’t care how badly you want pizza. Make it from scratch,” Lucas demanded. Graham heard Juno whining dramatically on the other end. “Dammit, woman, listen to me. You open the door or leave that house. I’ll make sure you can’t sit right for a week, hear me?” Graham couldn’t quite make out what Juno was whispering into the phone but whatever it was made Lucas’ cheeks turn so red they were nearly violet. “Don’t be a tease, Jun. You threaten me with something like that, you better be ready to see it through.” With that Lucas ended the call and threw his phone in his lap.
“You okay?” Graham asked with a chuckle. “It looks like you are having an allergic reaction.”
“Shut up. We’ll go to the first set of markings in Quadrant A before heading back to the girls,” Lucas took a turn rather fast, nearly taking the jeep up on two wheels.
“You sure you can wait that long?” Graham joked.
“Ugh,” Lucas threw his head back. “Just stop reminding me or I won’t be able to get out of this car without a really odd walk.””
It only took about fifteen minutes to get to the site of the first markings the patrol had seen. Graham stepped out of the jeep and slammed the door shut. Lucas preceded him down the path with his hands in his pockets.
“Should be just up here,” Lucas said, his eyes searching.
“Are you sure?” Graham asked, his concern rising to a palpable level.
“This is what they said. Quadrant A section 27.”
“Fuck, I hope they were wrong.”
“Why?” Lucas asked.
3/4
Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen
Graham remembered he hadn’t filled Lucas in on every confidential piece of information a lead warrior should be privy to. Perhaps if he had, they would have never left the girls in the first place. Graham pushed him aside and took over leading them down the path. He took a right and walked up to the fence, immediately finding the markings his patrol had discovered. There were large gaping gashes torn into the thick steel posts. There were also deep marks in the earth beneath the post.
Graham’s stomach churned in fear and his fists clenched. He pointed to the post. “This is where we hid our wards against magical entities,” Graham whispered, his voice clogged with emotion.
“What?” Lucas asked on a rush of air. “Who else knows about this, Graham?”
“Jensen, Stuart,” he answered. “And the witch who cast the ward.”
“Who is…”
Graham looked over at Lucas with a pale face. “Chloe.”
A wave of nausea, fear, betrayal and pain rocked through his body so hard and fast it forced him to his knees. Graham clenched his fists into the soft ground as he fought the foreign feelings rolling over him. Above his head he could hear Lucas calling out to him. He felt his friend’s hands touching his shoulders, trying to draw him back up.
In the far reaches of his mind he heard Catherine’s soft voice fade as she called his name.
“No,” Graham whispered. “No!”
Surrendering to Destiny
