Chapter Thirty-Five
Graham’s eyes darkened. He glanced over his shoulder at Jensen. “It’s our bond. If lycans don’t acknowledge their bond and mark each other it starts to weaken them. Because you’re half wolf, it’s making you weaken faster.” Graham placed his hand on her thigh and gripped her tight.
Catherine nodded and looked to her father. Jensen’s hands were stuffed in his pants and his expression was stiff with guilt. When he noticed her gaze he shifted his focus and stood taller.
“I want to know how this happened,” he demanded.
The hand on her thigh tightened and she latched her own hand atop his to signal for him to be careful. Graham gave her an apologetic look and rubbed his hand along where he’d gripped her.
“I had some men scout the perimeter. The rogues dug under the fence,” Theo offered, helping Natalie off his lap. She came over and stood beside Juno.
“They dug under?” Jensen repeated.
“Is that hard?” Catherine asked.
“The fence line is buried 15 feet deep. For them to have dug that deep…” Theo explained.
“Our scouts have failed,” Graham finished. “Our patrols should have caught them.”
“We followed their scent about two miles out when the trail got too difficult to track,” Theo said.
“Same MO as the rogues spotted in Nathan’s territory,” Jensen observed.
“What about the person on the Blackmoore side?” Catherine asked. Every head turned to her.
“What person?” Jensen asked.
Catherine looked at the people now staring at her and shrunk down slightly. Graham took her hand and Juno took the other. She didn’t miss the cold look Juno shot at him. “I was on a run and when I got to the fenceline there were nine wolves on the other side of the fence but on the Blackmoore side there was a figure.”
“What did they look like? Was it a man or woman?” Graham asked.
She shrugged. “I couldn’t tell. They were wearing baggy clothes that were all black and had the hoodie covering their face.”
Graham shot a look at Theo who shrugged. “We only scented the wolves.”
“Is there anything else you can remember? Anything at all?” Jensen asked.
Catherine thought about it and nodded. “When I scented Theo and his men coming the wolves took off but…”
“Baby?” Graham pressed.
“The mystery person just walked back toward town. They weren’t in a hurry at all as if they weren’t worried about being caught.”
“You’ll be staying at the packhouse while Graham’s away. We’ll be putting a guard on you,” Jensen instructed, his face stern.
Catherine looked at Graham. “You’re leaving?”
“I need to find those bastards, Baby. It’ll only take two days maximum, I promise” he said. She looked to Juno.
“Can Juno stay with me?”
Graham shook his head but Juno responded. “They won’t let me, Kitty Kate. Your dad said I can’t be trusted.”
Jensen grunted behind them. “I’m at the end of my rope with insubordination.”
211
Chapter Thirty-Five
“You’re not my alpha!” Juno shrieked, standing up. Catherine reached up to stop her but when she raised her arm it pulled on her collarbone and she gasped at the pain. “You’re not even her alpha! I could take her away and none of you could stop me!” Graham stood up sharply at that. Juno swiveled and pointed a shaky finger at him. “Don’t you dare! Where the fuck were you?! Where were any of you? I sat there listening to her screaming in pain and none of you were there!”
“Juno,” Catherine whispered.
“No, Kitty. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you to these murderous psychopaths. Especially you,” she said, glaring at Graham with tears brimming on her lids. “You can’t even protect your own mate.” She turned to Jensen. “Your own daughter. And you call me the threat?” Catherine reached out carefully without lifting her arm too far until her fingers brushed Juno’s hand. Juno gripped her hand hard and used her other one to wipe her wet face. “You have no idea what this girl has gone through. What she looked like when I found her five years ago. I’ll leave. I’ll respect your fucked up doubts for today but I’m warning you. You have a month, Alpha Jensen. Either you accept your daughter and let your supposed closest confidant claim his mate or I’ll come back and you won’t even realize I’ve taken her. If today has proven anything it’s that it wouldn’t be impossible for me to do so.”
Juno sat down harshly on her chair. She laid her head down on Catherine’s thigh and gripped her hand in both of hers as the blanket grew wet from her tears. Graham slowly sat down on the bed again, giving Juno an appraising look filled with something like pride.
“Damn,” Natalie said from where she stood at Catherine’s head. “I like her.”
“Whatever,” Jensen hissed. “Graham, I expect you and Theo to be gone by 8 tomorrow. Assign whoever you want to watch my daughter and come see me before you leave.” With that Jensen pivoted and left the room.
Rebecca walked up to Catherine and cupped her cheek. She leaned down and gave her a quick peck on that same cheek. “I’ll be with you at the packhouse, Sweetheart. I can get you set up in the kitchen while you’re there. Does that sound okay?” Rebecca whispered in her ear.
Catherine nodded. “Thank you, Luna Rebecca.”
Rebecca smiled. She squeezed Graham’s shoulder and whispered something in his ear, this time so low no one else in the room could hear. He kept his eyes on Catherine as Rebecca spoke and nodded to whatever she said. A moment later she was following her husband out. As if taking a silent que, Natalie, Theo and Mary said their goodbyes and went home. Juno kept her head on Catherine’s thigh, refusing to look up or move.
“Graham,” Catherine said, bringing his attention away from the bandage he was rewrapping on her arm. “Could you give us a moment?” she asked, glancing down meaningfully at Juno’s head.
He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “I’ll make us all something to eat.”
Catherine waited for the sound of the fridge opening to touch Juno’s hair. “Juno? Do you want to talk about it?”
“Talk about what? How you almost died? How I couldn’t do anything to stop it?” Juno asked, not looking up.
“I’m okay. Theo was there and…”
Juno’s head shot up. “Yeah, Theo. The man who is not your mate.”
“It wasn’t Graham’s fault.”
“Stop!” Juno yelled in frustration. “Just stop! I know you want to blame your dad for all of this and I get it, he’s playing a major role in it but…” Juno sighed and glared down at the blanket.
“Just say what you want to.”
Juno huffed. “Bearing your mate’s mark is definitely a symbol and it shows everyone you belong to someone, sure. But his own pack didn’t know who you were to him? And no one knows your Jensen’s daughter yet? Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”
Catherine rubbed the sheets between her fingers. She was well aware that Graham was probably listening to them in the kitchen. Catherine gripped the sheets tight in her fists. “Graham has not been hiding me, Juno. He’s kissed me in public. He’s left his scent all over me. The lycans who attacked me today could scent him, you heard it yourself, they knew who I was to him,” she said. In the kitchen a pot clattered to the ground.
“I’ll kill them,” Graham growled low.
*People are shitty, Juno. They were shitty 3,000 miles away when my pack was torn apart. They were shitty in Sterling when someone didn’t like my food and they’re shitty here when some overstimulated steroid douchebags catch the scent of a weaker person. But there are great people too like the lycan today
Chapter Thirty-Five
who tackled his fellow soldier to save me. Or Toma who beat the shit out of that one guy who threw his chicken at me. Remember that?” Catherine asked, elbowing Juno a bit with a large smile. Juno shook her head, trying and failing to keep a smirk from creasing her face. “Remember when Toma shoved the chicken down the guy’s pants and then threw him out using his belt?”
Juno giggled and covered her mouth. “Didn’t he say something like, ‘Get out of here, chicken butt?” she asked with another giggle.
Catherine laughed. “No, he said…”
“Get fucked, chicken butt,” they recited together.
They laughed for a few moments before falling silent again. Catherine took Juno’s hand. “You might not have been able to get to me today but you’ve already saved me, Girl.” Juno wiped a tear from her face. “You saw me walking along that highway in nothing but a torn rag of a dress, no shoes, no money, nothing and you picked me up. You took me to Sterling, got me a job, a home… You’re my family. I love you and you’ll always be my true hero. None of these lycans could ever compete.”
“You’re damn right, bitch,” Juno said.
She leaned forward and carefully hugged her. Catherine looked over Juno’s shoulder to find Graham standing in the doorway. She closed her eyes and hugged her tighter.
“I love him,” Catherine whispered.
“I know and he loves you too…” Juno leaned closer to Catherine’s car. “But never as much as I do. That’s right lycan ass, I said it.”
Catherine glanced up and saw Graham rolling his eyes before walking back to the kitchen.
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Surrendering to Destiny
