Chapter Sixty-Nine
Catherine paused one last time. She ducked her head and took two deep breaths before she lifted Graham’s limp body onto their bed. She let out a sigh of relief and put her hands on her hips as she tried to regain her breath. She leaned forward and brushed her fingers over the small crescent mark she’d left on his neck. He twitched in his sleep at the sensation. She found a pair of shorts and shimmied them up his legs and over his hips. She sat back and smiled triumphantly down at her mate whose face was lost in a serene expression.
“Now that that’s taken care of.” She sighed, gently touching the raw mark on her neck.
She couldn’t keep from smiling. Everything seemed right in her world. She set about getting the house cleaned up from Graham’s rude entrance the night before. Catherine got some coffee going and started sweeping up the broken glass scattered around the floor. Every few minutes she would touch her neck again, making sure it wasn’t just a dream.
A loud knock at the front door had her squinting down the hallway. She walked to the bedroom doorway and saw Graham still peacefully asleep. Catherine hesitantly approached the front door. Her hand touched the door knob just as another round of knocks began.
She pulled the door open and her eyes widened at the annoyed alpha lycan in front of her. He looked haggard. He wore a white t- shirt, torn at the collar with blood stains around the bottom hem. His eyes were bloodshot, his short hair was flattened on one side and the color of his face was a few shades too pale.
“Alpha Jensen… This is a surprise.”
His blue and brown eyes zeroed in on her neck and he snarled. “What the fuck has he done?”
Catherine took a step back before remembering this was her home. “Graham hasn’t done anything.”
He scoffed and rolled his eyes at the same time. “Even if I couldn’t see your blatantly obvious lie with my own eyes, I’m Alpha here. I can sense when one of my own has been marked.” Jensen forced himself into the house. He stalked down the hall before turning sharply to look into the bedroom. Jensen stared her down. Several emotions flickered across his face, too indistinct to decipher.
After a few minutes of his death stare, Catherine cleared her throat and walked by him toward the kitchen. “Would you like some
coffee?”
Catherine was suddenly hauled backward. Air rushed from her lungs as Jensen pinned her to the kitchen wall. His blue eye glowed while his brown eye turned pitch black. Fear spiked through her, cold and sharp, setting her nerve endings alight with pain.
“Do the two of you know what you’ve done? Do you think I refused him to mark you because of some petty opinion?! There are consequences to my decisions! I am the alpha here!” As Jensen spoke he became louder and louder while the grip on her collarbone grew heavier and heavier. She fought to hide the pain his crushing weight caused.
“I’ve been here a month, father,” Catherine spat. If Graham could stand up to fourteen lycans, she could stand up to one. “If there was a consequence to our decision you had ample time to tell us!”
“I’ve been distracted what with a new daughter, my right-hand finding his mate, the challenge between him and my son, a rogue infestation, and another alpha visiting!” Jensen yelled back, uncowed. “If he had just listened to me, we’d have more time!”
“Hands… Off… Now,” a low, threatening voice said slowly from the doorway.
Catherine and Jensen looked to see Graham glaring at them. He had propped himself up against the door jam. Though his posture was slumped as if he was fighting off a high-dose tranquilizer, his eyes were black and his fists were clenched. Graham’s eyes focused where Jensen forcibly held Catherine. Jensen let out an annoyed growl but did as he was asked.
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Step… Back, Graham gritted through his teeth. Jensen glared forward as he took two steps back, his jaw set so tight Catherine thought she might have heard a tooth chip. “Catherine.”
Catherine hurried to take Graham’s extended hand. As soon as her fingers brushed his, he let out a breath of relief. The breath caused his body to slip and Catherine had to catch him under his arm to keep him from falling. He put a large percentage of his weight against her as he fought to stay awake.
“What are you doing here, Jensen?” Graham asked, his eyes turning brown as they shut.
Jensen studied Graham for a moment before sighing and pulling a chair from the kitchen table. “You should get some rest, Graham. Go back to bed. I need a word with my daughter. I will keep my hands to myself.”
Graham scoffed.
Catherine ran her hand up his back. “Maybe you should get some more…” Graham’s hot glare silenced her before she could finish her suggestion. “At least sit down,” she argued.
He let out another long breath before giving her a reluctant nod. She helped him to the table and he sank boneless into the chair. He propped his head up on his hands. Catherine ran her hand down his back one more time before going to the counter to get them coffee. By the time she returned to the table, his eyes were closed and his breathing was low and long. She sat down next to him and fanned her hand through his hair.
Catherine studied the relaxed planes of Graham’s face as she felt the buzz of his energy zipping through his bloodstream. His body needed rest, but his mind was chaotic. He didn’t want to leave her alone and his lycan was ready to take over if Jensen made any other attempts to hurt her. She thought about how much she loved him and how badly she wished he would just sleep and not worry about her. Graham reached up to take her wrist only for his hand to go limp. She continued to stroke his hair.
“Baby…” Graham warned though his head was lowering closer to the table.
“You need to rest.”
“When I wake up… we need to talk about you not using it on me,” he told her.
“Yes, Dear,” she whispered with a smile. Only a few seconds later, Graham returned to the deep sleep from earlier. She glanced up to see Jensen studying them with shrewd eyes. “He’s exhausted from yesterday.”
Jensen tightened his grip on his coffee cup. “Our souls are built differently than most. The gift… it’s not meant to transfer but sometimes a piece can make it through if you mark your fated mate.” Jensen glanced back at Graham. “His body is fighting it right now. If he is able to accept it, you may not be able to use it on him anymore.”
“Use what?” she asked, thinking it best to keep her gift hidden as long as possible.
Jensen met her gaze. “You can manipulate energy… can’t you? That’s how you changed your memory. It’s how you calmed the room yesterday. It’s how you’ve managed to subdue one of the most unstoppable lycans I’ve ever known.”
She watched her fingers trailing through Graham’s hair. “I’m not certain yet. All I know is I can feel… everything.”
Jensen nodded. “It took me a while after I marked my fated to figure out what I’d been gifted,” he said with a sneer. He readjusted himself in his seat and sighed. He hung his head back. “I’ll never forget the fear in her eyes when my mark turned our lives into a curse. I wasn’t there for her. It seems to be the legacy of my life,” he observed, looking up at Catherine,
Catherine took a sip of her coffee. “Whatever it was doesn’t seem to have affected your bond. Rebecca loves you. She’s a wonderful
Luna.
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Jensen shook his head and closed his eyes. “Rebecca is not my fated mate.”
