Chapter Twenty-Six
As they entered the packhouse for the second time, Catherine noticed how quiet it was. It appeared as though it had been emptied out for their arrival. The dread in her stomach deepened and she clutched Graham’s hand. He kept his eyes trained forward, his brow set. She recognized the look on his face. He was donning his “lead warrior” image.
If there was one thing she learned about her mate it was that he took his role in the pack very seriously. He never took a day off from training unless necessary and even then he would work in his office all hours of the day. It only took a few interactions with them in public to understand the man who came home to her was not the same one who walked out the door in the morning.
This time, Graham didn’t knock before entering the stately office of his alpha, her father. She glanced around and saw that, like before, Stuart and Luna Rebecca were seated on the couch underneath the large window. The same two men who she never got a chance to meet were standing behind the alpha’s desk with their arms folded. The man in question, the alpha, was seated at his desk. His fingers tapped impatiently on the oak. A white envelope sat just out of reach, sealed and waiting. She and Graham stopped halfway into the room.
“Nice of you to join us,” Jensen griped.
Catherine’s face heated but Graham merely smirked. “Apologies. We were indisposed.”
Jensen’s icy glare fixated on her. “So I heard.” Catherine’s face flamed hotter. “There’s no use mucking about. I have the results.”
Jensen yanked the envelope up from his desk and used a nail to slice it open. He read for a moment. Catherine tried to study his features for any change of expression. She wasn’t sure what she expected to see… Hope? Happiness? Like he’d discovered a missing piece of his soul had returned? Instead, his face remained unreadable, if not calculating. He set the paper down carefully and his eyes flicked up to them. He gestured to the paper.
“Read it yourself.”
Graham squeezed her hand and walked to the desk. He took the paper but instead of reading it, he returned to stand in front of her and presented the paper for her to read first. Catherine nodded in thanks and swallowed before taking the paper. Her eyes fixated on one word, set in bold near the center of the
paper.
“It’s positive,” she whispered. Graham stiffened in front of her. Perhaps he hadn’t fully believed it himself.
Stuart growled on the couch while Rebecca remained composed. She cast a sad, knowing smile toward her mate who continued to stare thoughtfully at the couple in front of them. Graham cupped her face. He pressed his thumbs into her throat and tilted her head so she would meet his eyes. His dark gaze fastened on her expression, trying to read how she was feeling.
Tears brimmed in her eyes and she shook her head. She didn’t know how she was feeling. He pulled her against him and wrapped his arms tightly around her. A few minutes of silence ensued as everyone in the room grappled with the information they’d just been handed.
One of the men behind the alpha coughed. “Sir, it may not be my place but we have things to discuss. She’ll need to be assigned a guard.”
“And a room in the packhouse,” the other noted.
Graham stiffened even more and she felt a low rumbling in his chest.
“We have to get her tied to the pack as quickly as possible,” Rebecca spoke up.
“I agree,” said the first man. “We can make an announcement next week. The pack needs to be kept up to speed. We can hold a ceremony to announce the long lost daughter, her mate and have the pack welcome her all at once.”
Catherine buried her face in Graham’s chest. She wasn’t ready to face this yet. She’d just learned she had a father, living and thriving while she’d suffered her entire life in the shadows, a world away. More silence followed as everyone waited for the alpha to speak.
Finally after several minutes he tapped the desk with three decisive knocks. “It cannot be avoided now. Graham will become beta.”
“What?!” both Stuart and Graham shouted.
Graham pivoted, keeping Catherine close against him. “I will not!”
“Father, I am your beta. I am next in line. You cannot just elect this… this soldier as your next when…”
1/2
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jensen held his hand up, silencing his son. He turned his glare on Graham while Catherine looked between them, feeling uneasy about the new tension in the room. “You have been denying your place for too long, Grey. You’ve been able to turn down my request and I have honored your decision but now the decision has been taken away from both of us. Destiny, fate, the Moon Goddess, whoever you want to choose has selected my daughter as your mate. My eldest child who is my rightful heir. You will take up the role as my beta and when the time is right you and my daughter will lead this pack.”
Graham took a threatening step forward. “I will take her away before I let you dictate our lives. I have obeyed the laws to not mark her until she’s been brought into the pack but I will be damned if I’ll let you steal our lives away. I am saying no.”
“You will become beta,” Jensen continued as if Graham hadn’t spoken. “You and Catherine will move into the packhouse. You’ll take up your duties while Catherine is trained by myself and Rebecca to be your other half in leading. She will need to be trained to fight or at least tested. She will be let into the pack, marked by you and blood bound to at least three guards and…”
“No!” Graham shouted. For whatever reason the last thing Jensen said eroded the final tether Graham had on civility. She clutched his wrist as he took a step forward. She felt the bones beneath her finger snap and she gasped.
“Stand down, Grey,” Jensen commanded.
She could feel his aura ripple out. Everyone in the room bowed down under its weight… everyone except Graham. She stared up at her mate in awe as he barely blinked at the power being pushed down on him. He snarled and his eyes went pitch black..
“Fuck you and the laws. Fuck your commands and threats. I won’t let you take her from me.”
“And I won’t let you disregard your destiny,” Jensen barked.
Graham pushed Catherine aside as his shift took over. Catherine fell into Rebecca’s arms who had been inching closer during the confrontation as if she knew exactly what to expect. Across the room Jensen’s clothes ripped as he shifted in response to Graham. Catherine’s eyes were fixated on her mate in his lycan form. She’d never seen him shifted and the sight was both breathtaking and nightmare inspiring. He stood over nine feet tall, all muscle and fur. His coat was a deep reddish brown color matching his natural hair. Along his right side she could see the lines of his tattoos covering his body though the color was no longer visible.
Compared to the lycan alpha standing behind his desk, Graham was only slightly smaller, and it could be because he was crouched to attack. The alpha’s tattoo lines covered every inch of his body. He held more muscle and his teeth seemed longer. Either way, the two lycans were a terrifying image.
“We have to leave now, Catherine,” Rebecca whispered, trying to pull her to the door.
“But… Graham, what if he needs me?”
Graham snapped his jaws at his alpha and the two men behind the desk shifted at the threat. Stuart still sat on the sofa with his arms stretched over the back. Though she could still see anger straining his features, his eyes were alight with triumph at the scene before him. Just as Rebecca managed to get Catherine out the door, Graham lunged toward the desk.
Surrendering to Destiny