Chapter Fifty-One
Graham dropped Catherine off at the kitchen early the next morning. His eyelids were heavy from exhaustion but a small smile graced his lips as he leaned down to kiss her goodbye. Neither of them had gotten much sleep the night before. He’d taken her in his packhouse bedroom upstairs while she was trying to pack, in the shower at home and again in the middle of the night in their own bed. Catherine was pleasurably sore.
“Don’t work too hard today,” he warned her again while he brushed some hair behind her shoulder. He smirked with pride at the red marks he’d left along her skin.
She quickly jerked her shirt up to cover them and gave him a playful glare. “And don’t you get any paper cuts,” she teased. Graham rolled his eyes and kissed her again. “I’ll bring your lunch to your office,” she promised.
Graham leaned close to her ear. “Bring your apron,” he whispered playfully.
“Why?” she asked, though she had a few guesses.
Graham merely shrugged and hid his smile behind his coffee cup as he turned to leave. Catherine smiled at his back as he walked through the hall toward the back of the packhouse. He had a lot of paperwork to catch up on due to his absence over the last week. Meanwhile she wasn’t quite sure what she was walking into.
Catherine pushed open the door to the kitchen and her smile grew. All of Graham’s family was already hard at work preparing for breakfast. Heather stirred grits in the pots hanging in the fireplace. Mable whisked eggs to be scrambled. Natalie peeled potatoes with a scowl on her face. Mary kneaded bread for biscuits. Even Leonora was here, manning the stove while bacon sizzled before her. At Catherine’s entrance, they all turned to smile at her.
“Good morning, everyone!” Catherine beamed.
“Well, well, well, looks like someone finally got laid,” Natalie chirped. Mary smacked her arm with a wooden spoon.
“Quiet, you. I don’t want to hear that,” Mary scolded, brandishing her wooden spoon before her.
“Yeah, just like she didn’t want to hear the real reason why the pantry looked ransacked this morning.” Heather laughed.
Catherine turned scarlet. She had completely forgotten how they’d left the pantry the night before.
“It was an earthquake!” Mary yelled, clamping her hands over her ears.
“You’re right, Mom, I’m sure it was earth-shattering,” Annabelle added as she walked out of the pantry, broom and dustpan in hand.
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“Um, there was a mess in the pantry? Hm, must have been a racoon,” Catherine mused, tying her apron with studious intent. Everyone in the kitchen burst out laughing. She thought she might have even seen the hint of smile grace Leonora’s face. “What can I help with?”
Mable looked around. “Looks like the next thing to start would be the eggs.”
Mable handed her the bowl of eggs and Catherine looked at the stove where Leonora was stationed. The three other sisters gave her a knowing look. So, it was a mutiny, huh? She took the bowl and started prepping a pan for the eggs. Leonora stared down at the bacon as if her eyes were the ones frying them.
The two worked side by side quietly. Catherine would smile or laugh as the family continued to bicker behind her. Even Mable seemed to be more at ease with the MacTavish clan gathered around. It was hard not to with their exuberant personalities.
“You don’t smell like him as much anymore,” Leonora whispered quietly, startling her.
Catherine looked sideways at her but Leonora’s focus was still on the pan. “Graham told me you were his mate.”
Leonora’s body stiffened and she flipped the bacon a bit too hard. Grease popped up and got both of them in the arm but they ignored it. “I rejected him.”
“He forced me,” Catherine said.
Leonore turned to look at her, moisture gathered in her eyes. “I’m sorry, I never wanted this to happen. I wish I could…”
“ar’s okay,” Catherine said, placing her hand on Leonora’s arm. “He can’t hurt us anymore.”
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Chapter Fifty-One
Leonora gave her a look of doubt. She looked back to the bacon and sighed before shaking her head. “Do you really believe he can’t get to you?”
“I trust Graham.”
“And if he’s not here?”
Catherine looked around at his family. “My family signed me over to him. Handed me to him on a silver platter and pocketed the money. The family. I’ve found here, I trust them. I won’t live in fear of him anymore. Neither should you.”
A few more minutes passed in silence. Catherine could see Leonora thinking over what she’d said. A few times she caught Leonora’s mouth open but she would shake her head and clamp it shut.
“Have you…” Leonora began. She sighed and looked at Catherine with tears brimming her eyes. “Have you seen Arabella?”
“Oh my Goddess, Nora, you know what happened to her,” Annabelle said from where she was chopping onions.
“He wouldn’t do that,” Leonora argued.
“Yeah, he would,” Mary said with a tone of understanding. “She nearly succeeded in kidnapping his mate. Graham warned her, Sweetie. How would you feel if it was Benji? What would you do?”
“Hey! You’re burning the bacon!” Natalie grumbled, covering her nose and waving the smoke away from their faces.
“Nat, take over for me please,” Leonora said, the tears escaping her eyes.
“Thank the Goddess, I am so over potato duty,” she sighed, rushing over to take the tongs. Leonora fled from the room.
“By the way, Chick,” Annabelle continued. She pointed the long knife she was using toward Catherine. “Next time Graham has to go on a mission, you’re staying with one of us,” she said waving the knife around the room to her family. Heather nodded in agreement as did Mary and Natalie.
Catherine didn’t want to think about the next time Graham would leave. Her stomach twisted at the thought. She’d just gotten him back.
“Yeah, what that bitch did… I wish Graham would have let me have a go at her. I owe her a beating after she tried to steal Geoffrey from me,” Heather
hissed.
“If that were the case then every female in the pack should get a five minute bout,” Natalie laughed.
“Girls…” Mary warned.
“What, Mom?” Annabelle asked. “She deserved what she got.”
“Very few of us know what it’s like to be rejected by our mates. You cannot fathom the pain. Look at your sister. She only experienced one side of it. You remember how she was those years until Benji came along.”
“Arabella had a mate who rejected her?” Catherine asked, startled.
Natalie scoffed. “Yeah, she dodged a bullet in my opinion.”
“No doubt,” Heather agreed.
“Who?” Catherine asked. Surely she wasn’t mated to Dominic too?
“Little Stu Stu,” Annabelle supplied. The other girls giggled.
Catherine stared back down at the eggs. Juno told her Stuart had rejected his mate, but Arabella? Why would he reject her? She believed mates were meant to help each other achieve their best selves. Perhaps if things were different and both Arabella and Leonora ended up with their true mates, none of this would be happening. Catherine would be safe. Leonora and Arabella would be kind and happy. But would she have met Graham? Was it their destiny to reject their fated mates so the stars would align and she could be with Graham? There was no way Catherine’s fate could be so important.
Mary watched her with sharp eyes. “How’s the employee search going, Dear?” she asked, thankfully not questioning her sudden unease.
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Chapter Fifty-One
Catherine shrugged and began plating the finished eggs. “A few of the girls who walked out came back asking for their jobs. I was considering offering it to the ones who just gave me their apron rather than insulting me. I have to do something.”
A knock came at the door and Catherine turned to see a shy girl around her age with blonde hair cut into a bob and dark brown eyes that looked almost black. She waved and then Catherine caught her scent: a full wolf.
“Just in time, Betty,” Mary said, clapping her hands to rid them of flour. “Catherine, this is Betty.”
“Nice to meet you,” Catherine said with a smile as she shook her hand,
“You too, I’ve heard great things about your cooking,” Betty told her,
“You haven’t tried it?”
Betty blushed scarlet. “Wolves are not allowed to eat at the packhouse.”
Catherine gasped softly and turned to Mary who gave her a knowing shrug. “Well, do you have any cooking experience?”
Betty stood straighter and nodded. “I’ve cooked for my family my whole life. As a wolf there aren’t a lot of job opportunities so I stay home and keep up the house and help raise my siblings. I also babysit the other wolf children in the pack from time to time.”
“Others? How many full wolves are in Blackmoore?”
“There are about 50 of us total with 20 or so within our age range give or take five years older and younger.”
Blackmoore was one of the largest packs on the continent. She knew the numbers were in the high six digits so 50 was a relatively low number. But considering that number couldn’t work or eat in their own packhouse? Betty wasn’t a rogue. She could smell the Blackmoore scent on her. Was Jensen that much of a traditionalist? He would allow them in his bed but not at his table?
“Well… do any of the others need work?” Catherine asked. Betty smiled big.
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Surrendering to Destiny
