Chapter One Hundred and Sixteen
Catherine woke due to a churning in her stomach. She opened her eyes and looked up at the cylindrical ceiling above her head. She squinted her eyes, trying to figure out what she was looking at. Her body protested as she sat up. She held a hand to her head and fought nausea rising up in her throat.
She glanced around, trying to get her bearings. There were no windows, the bedroom was small with nothing but a bed and a set of drawers. She felt her stomach pitch and she ran to the trash bin in the corner. Once she’d emptied the contents of her stomach, she stood on shaky legs. Laughter brought her attention toward the front of the room. She gripped the bed and used it as a support to walk toward the door.
Catherine opened the door a crack and her stomach dropped all over again. She was on a plane. A private plane. Tears welled in her eyes. Dominic had succeeded. She closed the door and leaned back against it. Her entire body began to shake from the shock. Her mind was too loud. She clamped her hands over her ears and tried to figure out what to do. She needed to calm down and think. Instead, thoughts ricocheted unbidden around her mind. The energy around her spun and morphed. It crashed around her as she fought for control.
The plane suddenly dipped as if it had started to fall from the sky. Then the front of the plane started to tilt down. The laughter outside died to be replaced with frantic voices. Catherine gritted her teeth. She focused on her anger and brought it to the forefront. She wasn’t giving up without a fight.
Catherine stood, her feet now planted with purpose. She flexed her fingers and took control of the energy around her, the energy of the plane. The nose of the plane tilted further and Catherine wrenched the door open. The scene in the main cabin had changed drastically. She took stock of the people around her. Marty was there, grasping on to his seat with one hand while reaching for his oxygen mask with the other. Curtis yelled at the open doorway to the cockpit as the pilots struggled to figure out what was happening to the plane. Catherine’s eyes stopped at the motionless figure on the couch. Chloe’s hands and feet were bound and she was unconscious.
Catherine’s anger soared at the sight, sending the plane into a tailspin. A chair further up the cabin spun to face her and Dominic’s eyes locked with hers. A smile pulled at his expression as he watched her braced against the doorway.
“I figured out what’s causing problems with the plane,” Dominic announced over the chaos. Everyone quieted down. “Catherine’s awake.” All eyes turned to her. “Dose her again before she takes the plane down with all of us in it, won’t you?”
Several burly men stood up to do as their alpha bid them. They stalked toward her. She focused on their aura and the tethers they emitted. When they got within a few feet of her, they dropped as she forced her own violent energy over theirs. She looked up at Dominic and grinned.
“I’d rather kill us all than let you have me!” Catherine yelled.
Dominic tsked. “That would be far too wasteful.”
Catherine took two steps forward before a woman’s scream brought her up short. She glanced sideways to see Curtis holding a knife to Chloe’s throat. Chloe’s wide eyes locked with Catherine.
Chloe shook her head. “Don’t worry about me. Don’t let him break your concentration. End this!”
Catherine hesitated, only for a moment. It was enough. She felt a prick on the side of her neck. She clapped a hand to it and looked at the man who just poisoned her. She focused her dwindling strength on the man’s energy. She wrapped her own energy around him, focusing on the hate, anger, and betrayal. Slowly she watched the lime green tether blacken and then wither away entirely. The man held a hand to his chest and gasped. His back contorted as if someone was ripping his heart from his chest. He fell to the floor with a thud.
Catherine swayed; the effects of the drug began to take hold. The plane started to level out and exhaustion consumed her. When she fell, she was caught by arms that smelled like pine rather than apple cider.
By the time Catherine woke again, the plane wasn’t moving anymore. Soft murmurs above her began to take shape. Catherine groaned and a heavy hand stroked through her hair.
“Did you get enough?” Dominic whispered.
“That’s the hope,” a feminine voice agreed. “He’s the best tracker on the continent. He may not buy it but it’ll give us time. The accelerant will make her fever increase over the next few days. She’ll be ready by the full moon in four.”
“Get going then. I’ll see you at the house tonight,” Dominic said.
Catherine heard soft feet pad over carpet. She lay there motionless, hoping Dominic would leave her. Instead his hands continued to travel through her hair, over her arms, down her legs. It wasn’t until she heard the plane engine roar to life that she opened her eyes. Dominic was lying beside her. His weight rested on one elbow. He smiled down at her and his gold eyes crinkled in pleasure.
1/2
“Good morning, Beautiful,” he greeted her.
Catherine was still numb from the drugs. She knew she couldn’t fight him off. She kept her emotions under control as she tried to figure out how to use this situation to her advantage.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Home.”
“Then why are we leaving?”
His smile widened and he brushed his thumb across her cheek. “I need to keep you somewhere safe for the next few days. Somewhere he won’t find you until we’re ready.”
“Somewhere who won’t find me?” she asked softly.
“Don’t make me say it,” he warned her, his smile faltering.
“My mate?”
Dominic sighed and took his hand away. “I’m your mate.” Catherine looked away toward the ceiling. “I don’t want to fight with you, Catherine.”
“What’s the plan Dominic?”
“The plan remains the same: we mate, bond, and rule side by side.”
“I already have a…” Catherine began only to be cut off by Dominic’s warning growl. “I already have a mark on my neck, Dominic.”
“That won’t matter. You have my blood in your veins which means you’ve never fully bonded with him. We’ll get you somewhere he won’t find you and the full moon will do the rest.”
Catherine looked back at Dominic to find his eyes wandering down her body. “The full moon?”
Dominic placed his hand along her stomach and she flinched. He smirked. “The full moon: a lover’s best friend. It’ll make you more willing.”
“That will never happen. I’ll ki…”
“You’ll go into heat, Catherine. You won’t be able to resist me.”
“You wanna bet?” Catherine growled. “You make me sick. Even before I met Graham I’ve never wanted…”
Dominic clasped his hand securely over her mouth and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I’ve diverted MacTavish. He’ll follow a false trail to Moonstone where my men will be waiting to capture him. We’re going to my retreat. The hormone accelerant Julia just pumped you with will not only make you receptive, it’ll have you panting at my feet, begging me to fuck and mark you. Your betrayal will kill your mate and you’ll be all mine. I’ve won, Catherine. I’ve got you. I suggest you get used to the idea.” He released her mouth and went back to skimming his fingers along her skin.
“Did you hurt Juno?” she asked, a tear escaping as she thought of how Juno looked the last time she saw her.
“No, she’ll be fine. If you want, I can have my men collect her when all of this is done,” he said, the change of topic calming his temper.
“Did you have Marty abuse her to try to get to me?”
“I needed a way to draw you away from the wards. Unfortunately our little ruse with the rogues didn’t give us enough time. When we arrived, you had already left. Fortunately I never put all of my eggs in one basket and we were able to destroy the wards before anyone important realized.”
“And Leonora? Is she more collateral damage?” Catherine asked.
“Ah, Leonora… she was pivotal to the plan. If it weren’t for her and Stuart, I wouldn’t have been able to claim you so easily.”
“Stuart?” Catherine gasped.
2/3
Chapter One Hundred and Sixteen
Dominic chuckled. “There’s nothing more dangerous than a beta scorned.”
“What happens after?”
“After?”
“After we’ve bonded,” she asked, terrified of his answer.
Dominic chuckled again. He looked up at the ceiling as he tried to find the right words that wouldn’t set her off. “Well, the second part of our plan will begin.”
“And that is?”
“Fulfilling my mother’s prophecy,” he explained. He picked up her hand and brushed his lips across her knuckles. “With your gift we’ll be able to take over the other wolf packs. We’ll then be able to defeat the lycans by sheer force of numbers. Then I’ll be made Alpha King and you, you Catherine, will be my queen.”
“You overestimate the power of my gift,” she whispered.
“You took control of a plane. You severed one of my gammas’ mate bonds for Goddess sake. And I’ll bet there’s even more you’re hiding from me. I’ll just have to draw it out of you.”
“What about what Matt said? About you… selecting men to…” Catherine couldn’t even say it.
“Shh, shh, shh,” he tsked. “That won’t happen for a while. First I’ll need you to provide me a few heirs and then we’ll discuss the others.”
Catherine stared back at the ceiling, her jaw set. That wasn’t going to happen. Graham would come for her. In the meantime, she would need to focus on blocking her wolf so the heat wouldn’t consume her before he got there.
Surrendering to Destiny
