Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Nine
Catherine coughed and tried to blink away the dust from her eyes. She pushed the broken ceiling tiles off her stomach. She sat up and winced when pain radiated from every muscle in her body. Dust floated in the air around her. Her ears rang. She clasped a hand to her head while she tried to figure out what happened.
The beating she received from Dominic and then the pain from his assault on Graham blurred together into one long attack from every side. She’d felt the moment their bond snapped, telling Catherine her mate had died. The pain was unbearable, indescribable, life-ending. She’d screamed at the top of her lungs as the pain threatened to lead her to the same result. Then he came back. The pain was still there, but her lungs could inflate again. A moment later, an explosion tore through her room.
The door to her room suddenly opened and fell off its hinges making her jerk and groan as the pain flared. Dominic strode in; his glowing gold eyes took in the room until they landed on her. Relief flooded his face but only for a moment. He stalked toward her, his advance hindered by shattered furniture and chunks of ceiling that littered the ground.
“Where’s my mate?” Catherine growled. “What did you do to him?”
“Don’t worry, he’s not dead. Yet.”
She stared up at the ceiling above her. “You better kill me now while I’m weak, Dominic, because I swear to you, the moment I get my strength back… I’m going to kill you.”
Dominic squatted down beside her. He looked her over slowly and laughed through his nose. “Do you really think after all I’ve done, after all the years I’ve waited for this moment that I would simply give up because of that flimsy threat? Do you really think this isn’t part of the plan?” He leaned closer to her face. “Tell me, how much energy have you stored up? Enough to wipe out an army yet?”
Catherine turned her head to look at him. “What are you…”
He raised his hand. “I think you’ve insulted my intelligence enough for today. Let’s go before this whole house comes down on our heads.”
Catherine didn’t fight when he heaved her up from the floor and cradled her in his arms. She knew her chances of defending herself at present were slim to none. She needed time to gain her strength. Then she would do whatever it took to get away from Dominic and find Graham.
“We should get to the tunnels,” Julia suggested from the open door. She was holding her arm at a weird angle and Catherine realized it was broken.
“Tell me this isn’t your fault, you fucking witch,” Dominic ordered as he stalked across the room, stepping over the body of the unconscious woman who had been reporting her condition to Dominic.
Julia scowled. “This was not my fault. This has Chloe written all over it.”
Dominic strode past her into the hallway. Paintings hung haphazardly. Guards rushed around, trying to figure out what had happened. Catherine noticed a part of the roof had caved in. Dominic walked toward that area rather than the door leading out front.
“Dom! Alpha Dom! What the hell happened here?!” Gerald screamed above the chaos.
Catherine looked to see Gerald holding a frightened Morgan. Her hair and shoulders were covered in blood. Gerald didn’t look much better with bruising and a cut to his eye.
“It doesn’t matter. Stick to the plan and get to the tunnels,” Dominic ordered.
Gerald and Morgan fell in line behind the group as they walked toward an area of the home she hadn’t been to before.
“Is this your sorry excuse for security?” Morgan griped behind them. “A freaking vase fell on my head, Alpha. It could have killed me!”
“Your daughter is expendable, Gerald. Keep her in check,” Dominic growled.
“Expendable?” Morgan repeated in disbelief. “I’ll be Luna of Lycan kind and you think me…*
“Hush, Morgan,” Gerald warned her.
“Curtis!” Dominic roared.
110
The group walked toward the epicenter of the explosion. The floorboards creaked beneath their feet when they walked into what once was a bedroom. Someone groaned on the floor and everyone turned to the origin of the sound.
Curtis was flat on the floor. His arms were splayed wide but his legs were no longer there. A gaping hole in his chest continually pumped blood onto the floor. Morgan gagged and then threw up.
“Julia… do something,” Dominic said uncertainly.
Julia laughed. “Do what? My medium is blood and he’s got none left to play with.”
Dominic growled and several panes of glass fell from the shattered windows. “Then get the damn tunnels open!”
Julia carefully stepped over Curtis’ body, avoiding his outstretched hand pleading for help, and made her way to a bookshelf. She started rearranging the books and muttering under her breath. Catherine looked around and spotted a second body. She pushed away from Dominic who was too stunned by the loss of his corrupted witch to notice.
Catherine limped toward Chloe until she collapsed by her motionless body. She reached trembling fingers out and pressed them to her neck. She let out a shuddering breath of relief at the slow but faint heartbeat she found there. Catherine passed her hands quickly over Chloe’s body, searching for any visible injuries. She noticed the black bracelets around her wrist were gone.
A large hand wrapped around Catherine’s upper arm and hauled her backward. She gasped as the jerking motion threatened to pull her shoulder from its
socket.
“You’re hurting me!” Catherine hissed.
“Shh,” Dominic warned.
Catherine followed his gaze down the hall. A smile spread across her face as she recognized the grey wolf stalking toward them. She’d run beside this wolf countless times in Sterling. His head was low, his hackles raised. His glowing gold/brown eyes didn’t leave the body Catherine had just been pulled away
from. Toma.
“Toma, she’s hurt!” Catherine yelled.
Toma’s ears flicked in her direction and a low growl of pain and anger vibrated from his chest.
“Someone you know?” Dominic asked.
“Someone we all know. Hello, son,” Julia said with a mocking tone.
For a moment, Toma’s eyes sliced through the air to land on Julia but they returned to his mate just as quickly. Dominic started to slowly back away.
“Just leave the witch,” Dominic ordered. “We have no use for her now that Curtis is a lost-cause.”
Toma whined and locked eyes with Catherine. He couldn’t let Dominic take her, but he couldn’t leave his mate either. A louder growl vibrated down the hall and a second hulking figure appeared. This creature was lycan. His coat was a shimmering gold. His shoulders were wide but his waist was very narrow. The lycan dropped to all fours and moved with a determined stride.
Glad to see you’re alive, Catherine, Theo said in her mind.
Catherine let out a relieved puff of air. Where’s Graham?
Lucas is getting him. Don’t worry. I’m going to get you out of this.
While Theo reassured her, Dominic continued to pull her backward toward the book shelf Julia had been working to open. They stumbled over Curtis’ body but his eyes were vacant, staring upward. As she looked into the dead eyes of the man who had once tormented her, she felt a wave of restlessness. She couldn’t feel relief yet, not while she was in the arms of her other abuser.
Theo was closing the distance between them and Toma was nearly to Chloe’s body when Dominic pulled Catherine into a head lock and pressed a gun to her temple.
“Take another step, lycan, and I’ll put a silver bullet in her head,” Dominic warned.
“No, he won’t,” Catherine yelled.
“You think I’m not crazy enough to do it?” Dominic asked. He laughed bitterly. A large locking mechanism turned and the bookcase behind them began to
shake.
Theo noticed this and decided the risk of losing Catherine in a labyrinth of tunnels was worse than being shot at. Theo lunged forward. Dominic raised the gun at Theo and shot as Theo bounded toward them. She closed her eyes against the sound and barrel flash beside her head. A sharp yelp ricocheted around the room. She opened her eyes and saw Theo still moving but with a significant limp. The gun in Dominic’s hand was spent so he threw it to the ground. He started dragging Catherine back toward the open entrance. A thundering of feet came from the stairwell. Theo turned and they all watched a pack of lycans racing toward them.
“About damn time,” Gerald scolded as his lycan forces came racing to take on the Blackmoore threat.
Theo stood in time to take on the first of the lycans coming to defend their alpha. Meanwhile, Toma had made it to his mate’s body. In his human form, he held her in his arms. He brushed his fingers across her cheeks. Catherine watched as the pack of lycans overtook Theo through sheer numbers. He was pushed backward, down the stairs toward the front of the house.
Don’t let him take you from the property, Catherine! Reinforcements are incoming! Theo mindlinked.
Catherine glanced back at Toma as Dominic succeeded to get her to the door.
“You have to mark her, Toma!” Catherine pleaded. Toma looked up, his eyes filled with tears. “She’s your mate! Save her!”
As Dominic pulled Catherine into the tunnel and Julia waved her hand to close the door, the last image Catherine saw was Toma brushing Chloe’s hair away from her neck as he lowered his mouth to her pale skin.
Surrendering to Destiny
