Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Six
Catherine opened her eyes and blinked in confusion. She tried to take stock of her surroundings but her eyes were still adjusting. She didn’t feel much pain other than a throbbing in her neck. She tried to remember the last thing that happened. Panic raced through her entire body. She shot up into a sitting position startling Graham who lay beside her. He sat up and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Shh, shh, shh, you’re okay, you’re safe,” he mumbled sleepily.
Catherine fisted the crisp bed sheets and tried to figure out where she was. Her eyes finally became oriented to the darkness and she could make out the room around her and the view of the mountains outside the bedroom window. Her rapid breathing eventually slowed.
“Wh-when did we get to the cabin?” Catherine asked, looking back at Graham who was rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms. “How long have I been out?”
Graham glanced at his right wrist then shook his head at himself when he realized he wasn’t wearing his watch. He laid back down with his arm behind his head. “Umm, we arrived home yesterday. You’ve been out for… three days?”
“Three days?!”
“Mhmm,” Graham said following a yawn.
“Graham.”
“Hm?”
Catherine waited a moment with her arms crossed. He slowly opened his eyes and gave her a lazy smirk.
“You don’t want to wait til tomorrow?”
“When have I ever said yes to that?”
Graham looked upward. “I suppose never.” He lifted his arm and gestured with his chin for her to lay on his chest. “At least come here and let me hold you, Baby.”
“Fine,” Catherine grumbled as she settled back on his chest. She reached across and laced her fingers through his. He settled their intertwined hands on his stomach and started running the fingers of his other hand down her bare back. “So?” she prodded.
“Right, let’s see…”
“What happened after I passed out? Where’s Chloe? Juno? Did Theo and Lucas come back? How many men did we lose? Did you get Gerald? What about Julia? Did she really kill Muriel? What was Dane doing there? Why does my neck hurt so bad? Why…”
Graham wrapped his arm around her head and sealed her mouth with his hand. Catherine bit his palm and he chuckled but didn’t remove it.
“So… Chloe is okay. Toma marked her. They’re still in Blackmoore but they may be leaving.”
“Why?” Catherine asked, her voice muffled behind his hand.
“Timone and Toma are considering going back west, Dominic left the pack without a successor and because a lot of their old pack is there, they’re wondering if they could piece it back together. Obviously Chloe would go with Toma if that’s the case.”
“Wow.”
“Mhmm, Juno is fine. I made sure to send her and my family up here to the cabin while we were gone. She’s recovered from her injuries and got her memory back. She’s staying with Lucas at his house in Blackmoore. He wants to convince her to be his chosen mate… Which kind of goes hand in hand with why Dane was there to help.” Graham sighed. “Without my knowledge, Lucas promised to go back to his home pack and take up his right as heir. It settles the blood oath with Jensen, gives Dane what he always wanted, an heir, and, according to Lucas, allows Juno to become who she was always meant to be: a luna.” Graham took his hand from Catherine’s mouth. “Would you like to make a comment on that?”
Catherine was speechless. In less than two minutes she learned both of her best friends may be leaving her forever. Catherine shook her head and laid her cheek flat on Graham’s chest. He stroked his fingers through her hair in reassurance.
1/3
“Blackmoore lost eleven men total. Fourteen others were badly injured and are currently being treated at the hospital with Tracy in charge.”
“Tracy? What about Nancy?”
“Right, I forgot you weren’t here for that. She was the one poisoning you, Baby. She confessed.”
“Oh.”
“She’s in the cells right now. I haven’t made a decision on her punishment yet.”
“Okay. We should hold a memorial for all the men we lost. Set aside some money for the families or… I don’t know. We have to do something.”
“Whatever you want,” Graham whispered with pride before kissing the top of her head. “Gerald is dead. His and Morgan’s bodies were returned to their pack. They have a lot of decisions to make. They don’t have a successor which could spell trouble… We’ll deal with that later. We apprehended Stuart. Jensen promised Rebecca he wouldn’t kill him.”
“What does he intend to do then?” Catherine asked.
Graham tensed underneath her and continued to run his fingers through her hair. A few moments of silence passed before she looked up at him. His expression was guarded as he looked down to meet her eyes. His fingers left her hand and traced over her cheek.
“Baby, there’s something I need to tell you…”
“He’s dead… isn’t he?”
Graham nodded. “I’m sorry.”
Catherine laid her head back down and tried to decipher the hundreds of emotions whirling within her chest. A tear escaped her eye and landed on Graham’s chest. Jensen was an enigma to her. The father she always wanted yet who had knowingly abandoned her, who kept her from marking her mate, who used her in blood oaths. They would never get the chance to make amends or see if their relationship could be repaired. It was too late. For both of them.
“I’m sorry too,” Catherine whispered. “He was more a father to you than he ever was to me.”
“I lost my father long ago, Catherine. No one could replace him, no matter how hard he tried. I will miss him though. While he wasn’t my father, he was a great mentor. He made me who I am today.”
Catherine placed a kiss on the center of his sternum. “I love the man you are today.”
“I love you too.”
Catherine suddenly sat up and smacked his chest, causing his mouth to drop in surprise. “Don’t ever do that again!”
“What?!”
“Die!” She smacked him again. “You fucking died too!”
“I had to get the ward down somehow, Baby.”
“There had to be another way. You should have looked harder!”
Graham gave her a dubious look but then raised his hands in surrender. “I should have. You’re right. I got blindsided by needing to get to you. I made a lot of mistakes. Luckily every other member of my pack and then some were there to pick up after me.”
“Yeah, you are lucky.”
“I am.”
She felt along her neck where she was sore. There appeared to be several fresh marks there. As she poked and prodded, Graham’s face turned a deep shade of red noticeable even in the dark.
2/3
Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Six
“I… I didn’t want to take any chances,” Graham explained, brushing her hand away to lay his palm flat against the numerous marks he’d left over her neck.
She fiddled with her hands in her lap. “So… it’s over?”
Graham smiled and nodded. “Yeah, Baby, it’s all over. He won’t ever hurt you again.”
She looked down. “Then why…” She took a deep breath. “Why can I still feel him?”
Graham touched her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. He ran his thumb across her cheek. “It’s not magic, Catherine. Trauma you’ve experienced doesn’t just poof into nothing… unless you have someone like Chloe wipe it from your memory. It’ll come and go. Sometimes it’ll creep back up, even when you least expect it. Over time you’ll remember it less and less. Your triggers will feel like a twist in the gut rather than like your being skinned alive. I wish I could take it all away. I wish his death would automatically erase it from your mind. It just doesn’t work like that.”
The light of the air around them was brightening into the soft blue of morning. The sun would be rising soon on a new day. She looked out the window at the mountains surrounding her home.
Still looking out the window she murmured, “With Jensen gone…”
Graham nodded. “We’ll be asked to step up and take his place.”
“When?”
“As soon as possible. The three remaining alphas will stay with us for a few months at a time to teach me what they know but the ceremony will probably take place the day before the next full moon so that we may lead the pack on our first run,” Graham explained.
“Just like that?” Catherine asked, her gaze still fixed on the lightening sky out the window.
“More or less.”
Silence fell between them. Graham coaxed her back onto his chest and she sighed while rubbing her cheek across his skin. She traced the outline of the image of her wolf over his heart.
“If you’re okay with it, I invited everyone up to the cabin to spend the weekend. I thought it would be nice to have family around while we try to figure out what all comes next,” Graham told her.
“I would like that,” Catherine agreed.
She sat up again and he groaned at the loss of her heat. A second later though his eyes widened as she threw her leg over his waist and straddled him. She brought her mouth down to his and kissed him slowly. His hands ran up her arms causing her nerve endings to come alive.
“What are you doing, Baby?” Graham asked as she trailed a path of kisses down his neck to his chest.
“I thought that was obvious,” Catherine whispered before she clasped his cheeks between her hands and kissed him again.
“Hmmm, I missed you. Don’t ever leave my side again,” he whispered softly against her lips.
“Never,” she agreed.
