Chapter One Hundred and Thirty
Graham groaned as he rolled to his side. He glanced around at what was left of the dungeon. Dominic and Julia were gone but Dominic’s beta remained behind, watching Graham with his arms crossed and a stern expression. Graham coughed and pushed himself into a sitting position.
“I see Dominic left a babysitter,” Graham mused. He coughed and hacked violet slime from his lungs. He spat it at the beta’s boots. “Are you not important enough for his endgame?”
The beta smirked. “I’m not a babysitter, Dick. I’m executioner.” The beta squatted down and gave Graham an appraising look. “Once he’s marked Catherine, if it doesn’t kill you, I get the honor.”
Graham ran his tongue over his teeth and tasted copper. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the broken ceiling above his head. The house was a soft breeze away from collapsing. Dominic meant to mark Catherine soon. He was running out of time.
The beta stood up and paced back and forth in front of the broken bars of the cells around him. Graham took stock of his injuries. Considering he had just died, he wasn’t in too bad of shape. Julia must have worked some of her magic in helping to heal his wounds faster.
He closed his eyes and searched his mind for his mate. Whatever Curtis had done to block the two of them from mindlinking was still in place. Instead he searched for his brothers and immediately made a connection. They were close.
Lucas, Graham called into the void.
Shh, Boss man. You’ll give away my position, Lucas joked.
Graham opened his eyes and looked to the stairs. There he spotted his friend. In his lycan form, Lucas was even larger than Graham in the same form. It was an intimidating sight to see the large black lycan with alpha-blood stalking his prey. Long ago Lucas mastered the art of stealth. It was how he’d managed to sneak up on Graham the first time they’d met. Lucas had practically been on Graham’s back before he even scented him. It was a trait of Dane’s bloodline to mask their scent.
The black lycan crept down the stairway and onto the stone floor. The beta wolf continued to pace with his head down. He picked up an iron bar and spun it in his hand. He looked at Graham with a smile.
“What do you think, MacTavish?” He twirled the bar in the air and caught it. “It killed you last time. I think it can do the job again.”
Graham grinned and shrugged. “I wouldn’t worry your pretty, little head over it.”
“You’re probably right. Your woman taking on another mate will do enough damage to your pride, won’t it? It won’t even be fun for me,” the beta taunted.
Behind him, Lucas shifted to his human form. “I don’t know, Man,” Lucas started. The beta’s eyes bulged and he spun around on the balls of his feet. “He’s hard to kill. I’d still go with the rod, to be safe.”
The beta growled and shot to his feet. His skin shivered as he started to shift. The corner of Lucas’ mouth lifted up and his hand shot out, encircling the wolf’s neck. The beta let out a gurgle of surprise. His hands wrapped around Lucas’ forearm and his feet swung in the air as Lucas lifted him up. Graham heard the sound of bones snapping. Lucas’ expression twisted into that of maniacal pleasure. His mouth tightened and the final snap of the beta wolf’s neck made his body go slack. Lucas sighed and dropped the wolf to the ground.
“Well… that was boringly easy,” Lucas said on another disappointed sigh. He looked down at Graham. “You’re still sitting? Do you need a fruity drink with a spiral straw and a paper umbrella or do you think you can get off your ass and contribute a bit?”
“Help me up,” Graham grumbled.
Lucas rolled his eyes and extended his hand. Graham groaned loud as he hefted himself off the floor. He grabbed hold of Lucas’ shoulder and tested his limp legs. A crack from his left leg nearly had him falling to the ground again. Lucas clicked his tongue and wrapped an arm around Graham’s midsection to help keep him standing.
“Why are you here?” Graham asked through his teeth.
“Uh, I’m saving your ass?”
“You know what I mean. The plan was for Theo to get me and for you and Toma to…”
fun with what’s left of her. Goddess knows I had fun taking everything I could. Not that I was the first by a long shot.”
Lucas stepped forward but Graham caught him by the arm. “I’ll kill you with my bare hands, Marty,” Lucas promised. “I won’t even have to shift to grind your bones to dust.”
“You’ll have to get to me first, Old Man,” he taunted further.
A racket of growls, clawed feet, and thrashing brought all of their attention to the house. A plume of dust and debris exploded out of the front door followed by a lycan. The lycan was hurled through the air. Theo shifted mid-flight and landed on his back beside Graham and Lucas as if he’d launched himself perfectly to land there.
Theo coughed up blood and spat it to the ground. He opened one squinted eye to look at Graham and Lucas beside him. Graham’s anger rolled in his stomach.
“Oh… Hey, guys,” Theo said with a shy smile.
