Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Three
Graham sat at a table in the hotel bar and restaurant with one hand in his hair and the other holding a report on MoonStone. A group of lycans from Elliot’s pack arrived earlier in the day allowing his own men to take a break from their council member vigil. So far… nothing.
All around him men were letting off steam. While no one was allowed to get drunk, that didn’t stop them from imbibing in food, women, and an amount of alcohol that would put a human on his ass but merely gave lycans a buzz. Graham crumpled up the report he’d been reading and threw it behind his shoulder. He took a chug of water and moved on to the next file: testimonies from people who had been at the airport when Dominic’s plane landed.
“Heyo,” Theo called as he and Lucas took the seats across from Graham.
“Aren’t the two of you supposed to be in the meeting between Elliot and Jensen?” Graham grumbled.
“They’re done. Jensen went to bed and Elliot is checking in with his men,” Lucas answered, knocking back two full glasses of whiskey.
Graham held out his hand. “The tape recorder.”
Theo sighed and handed it over. “The lack of trust… it hurts.”
“It’s not a lack of trust,” Graham said, putting the recorder in the stack of stuff he needed to go through.
“Really?” Lucas asked. “Cause I remember both Theo and myself going through this stack of intel hours ago and telling you there was nothing to gain from it.”
“A third pair of eyes won’t hurt.”
“It will when those eyes haven’t closed in…” Lucas looked to Theo.
“Three days?” Theo guessed.
“Yeesh, maybe a cat nap?” Lucas suggested to which Graham growled.
“Here, these will help,” Theo suggested, sliding a glass of whiskey in front of each of them.
“Yummy,” Lucas said, licking his lips. “What do you say, Grey? Hey! That rhymed.”
“I’m gonna use that every opportunity I can from now on,” Theo said with a laugh.
Graham slammed his fist down on the table. He looked up at his two friends. “My mate is missing,” he reminded them. “It’s been three days and she’s still fucking gone! I can’t pick up a scent. I can’t pick up a lead and you two are sitting here like…” Graham sighed and shook his head.
“Like what?” Lucas asked, completely sober now.
“Luke…” Theo warned.
“No. I want to know what it is you think we’ve been doing these last three days, Grey? I’ve been working my ass off. Theo?” Lucas asked. Theo merely gave a shrug. “Maybe if you weren’t so concerned with double checking our work…”
“Watch it!”
“Fuck you.”
“Guys…” Theo said.
“What do you plan to do when we do find her, Grey? What will your comatose ass be able to do to defend your mate? Sleeping isn’t a goddess-damned weakness. It’s necessary for your strength and sanity. If you find her and…”
“If? Did you just say if?” Graham roared.
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Three
“Yeah, I did. Cause if you keep this shit up, we’ll be sitting here double-checking reports rather than actually finding her!”
“I have to double check this shit. I have to follow all the leads myself or….”
“Or what?!” Lucas demanded. “I have nearly a century on you, Grey. I’ve learned more about fighting people stronger than myself than you’ll ever know and one thing I learned long ago is you can’t do shit if you don’t trust your people.”
“I trust you!”
“No, you don’t! Stop lying to us and…”
“I have to do this!” Graham said, standing up and drawing all eyes in the room. “This isn’t about fucking trust, Luke. It’s…” Graham pulled at his hair. “I can’t. I won’t put anyone in the position to fail at this. I have to double check. I have to take the lead on everything because if… If we fail and I lose her…” Graham’s entire body shook at the idea. “If I lose her, I won’t be able to forgive the person responsible for letting it happen. I won’t be able to look them in the eye or let them live. I need this to be on me. I won’t do that to either of you.”
He glanced around the room at the men who had been in good spirits all afternoon. “You all want me to calm down and have a good time while my mate is in danger? While she could be suffering at the hands of a psychopath?! Fine!”
Graham grabbed the whiskey glass Theo had set in front of him. He threw it back and made a face. Then he reached across the table and ripped the one out of Theo’s tight grip. He downed that before taking Lucas’. The third glass hit the table with a crack.
“Happy!?” Graham sat back in his chair. He picked up the report he’d gotten half way through. “What the fuck are you all looking at?!” he asked the men around the room staring at him. Everyone looked away and started going back to their drinking, card games, or dart throwing.
“Wow, Grey, that was…”
“Beautiful,” Theo finished. “Sorry. We are just trying to look out for you.”
“And Catherine,” Lucas added.
“Whatever, just leave me alone,” Graham whispered.
“Orrrr… maybe we’ll wait,” Lucas said, sitting back in his chair with a curious gate
“For what?”
Lucas merely shrugged and turned to Theo. “You catch the game last night?”
“You think I watch sports?” Theo asked.
“We’re not animals.”
“Only partly,” Theo chuckled.
Graham tuned them out and kept reading the testimonies. Half-way down the page the words started to blur together. He rubbed his eyes and squinted to try to get them to straighten out. His head started to feel light and he swayed in his chair. He gripped the edge of the table and inhaled through his teeth. He glared up at the two men sitting across from him who were looking at him with a mixture of concern and amusement.
“Did you…” Graham began. He closed his eyes tightly against a wave of vertigo. “Did you drug me?!”
“It was Lucas’ idea.”
“You fucker,” Lucas growled while sending Theo a cold look. “In our defense, Theo chickened out at the last minute. That’s why I went all ‘bad cop’ on you.”
Graham fought to keep his eyes open so he could try to kill his friends with his glare.
“Yeah, I mean, I tried to give you the one that wasn’t laced. I didn’t expect you to go all ragey and take all three of them.” Theo argued.
“You need sleep Catherine needs you to be at full strength, Man,” Lucas agreed.
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Three
“If anything comes up we’ll make sure you wake up for it,” Theo rationalized.
“Yeah, we’ll watch over you, Schnookums.”
“When I wake up,” Graham growled between clenched teeth. “I’m gonna…” Before he could finish his threat, darkness swept through his vision. His head hit the table with a thwack.
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Surrendering to Destiny
