Chapter Eighty-Seven
Graham nodded at a group of guests touring the downstairs of the packhouse. He continued down the hallway toward the kitchen in search of his mate. He fidgeted with his cufflink and nudged the door open with his shoulder. He stopped just inside the doorway, His eyes immediately caught sight of her.
Graham couldn’t help but smile at the image. She was rushing around the kitchen. Her hair was piled on top of her head and her silky red dress was covered by a floor-length apron. She held a bowl and was whisking vigorously as she moved from station to station, checking on everyone’s progress.
“Catherine,” Graham called softly.
Catherine whirled around to face him. Her cheeks turned pink, just as they had earlier when she first saw him in his navy blue suit. She smiled big but continued whisking.
“Twenty more minutes,” she pleaded. She turned away from him and moved to the pots above the fire.
Graham sighed and waded into the chaos to fetch her. He apologized as he maneuvered through the women bustling around to get dinner ready in time for their guests. Pots crashed nearby.
“It’s okay!” the guilty party yelled over the gasps. “They’re empty!”
A collective sigh of relief followed before the chatter picked back up. Graham came behind Catherine who was telling the wolf mixing the pot to add more salt, thyme and rosemary.
“Baby,” Graham cooed behind her.
“15 minutes,” she begged, skirting around him.
“Mary, where’d I put my heavy cream?” Catherine yelled.
“By the rolls!” his mother answered as she hurriedly washed the dishes in the sink.
“Ah, thank you!”
“Catherine,” Graham groaned, following in her wake. “Everyone is here. Dinner is going to be served in…”
Catherine twirled around. “30 minutes. The dinner will be served in 30 minutes. I’ve been off for nearly a week and the girls are in the weeds and I have a weedwacker so why don’t you give me ten minutes and I’ll be out there to smooze and pretend to remember people’s names?” Catherine bartered, whisk still beating at whatever sauce she was creating.
Graham let out a puff of air. “Fine.” He reached into her apron pocket and pulled out her phone. “You have ten minutes. When this timer goes off you better be on your way to meet me.” Graham turned up the volume and stuck it back in her pocket. He cupped her chin with his fingers and stared pointedly down at her. “One second past and I’ll be in here to drag you out. Deal?”
Catherine went up on her tiptoes to kiss him. “Deal.” She immediately turned and started asking the nearest cook where her heavy
cream was.
“By the rolls!” the cooks all answered together followed by a chorus of laughter.
Graham playfully rolled his eyes and left the kitchen. He immediately began fidgeting with his collar. He tried to gather his wits before entering the dining hall. He took out his phone and set a timer for ten minutes, smiling to himself as he allowed her that extra minute or so to get to him.
1/4
Graham, Lucas called down the hall.
Graham glanced up to see Lucas standing in the foyer with Theo and two familiar looking wolves. He quirked up a brow as he approached.
He pointed at the taller of the two and held his hand out. “Alpha Nathan’s Beta, right?”
The beta nodded. “Beta Kyle and this is one of Nathan’s gammas, Luther.”
Graham shook Luther’s hand before shoving his hands in his pockets. “Been a while, Boys. We’re having a bit of a shindig here. I have about…” He checked his timer. “Eight and a half minutes. What brings you to Blackmoore?”
“We thought you might want to know… we had another uninvited guest testing our borders,” Kyle explained.
Graham glanced over at Lucas who gave him a curt nod. “Come with me,” Graham suggested. He walked through the nearest door into the salon. “So this rogue you’ve caught, same MO as…”
“No tongue,” Luther supplied. “There were six of them in total.”
“And you only got one?” Theo mocked earning glares from the wolves.
“They disappeared,” Kyle growled.
“Into thin air?” Lucas laughed.
“Yes,” both of the wolves answered.
“Magic?” Theo asked, expression serious now. He and Lucas moved closer to Graham.
“If it was magic, why didn’t all six get zapped back?” Lucas asked.
Graham rubbed his jaw. “I don’t like this. We’re spread too thin already thanks to the fuckers in the other room. Something doesn’t feel right. Lucas… you’ve been wanting an excuse to bail on this dinner. Congratulations, you’ve gotten one. Go with these two back to their pack. Interrogate the rogue. I want to know everything, even the name of his kindergarten teacher. Got it?”
“Thank fuck,” Lucas exhaled, already shucking off his suit jacket.
Graham’s timer went off in his pocket and he shut it off. “Get some of that aggression out of your system. I’ll need you at the party
tomorrow night. No excuses.”
Graham started to walk off when Lucas stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “In case I don’t make it to the ceremony beforehand… Allow me the honor of being the first?” Lucas asked, stepping back.
Graham smiled at his friend. “I’d want it no other way.”
“Hey! Rude,” Theo whined.
Lucas ignored him and pulled his switchblade from his pocket. He slashed the edge across his palm, drawing blood. He flipped the knife in his other hand and held the handle out for Graham to do the same. Once Graham’s palm was bleeding, they clasped hands.
“I pledge my loyalty to the new Beta of Blackmoore, Graham MacTavish. I am your man. I follow where you lead. I trust in your decisions. I give you my life,” Lucas pledged.
Lucas pulled away and sanded his hands together. “Let’s go, gentlemen!” he yelled. He threw his arms over both the wolves and the three started to walk out of the room. “I’m going to teach you puppies a thing or two tonight.”
Theo looked over at Graham and chuckled. “We don’t need to do the whole… blood thing do we?”
“No, no, of course not,” Graham assured him. He clapped Theo on the back. “You’ve already signed your soul to me when you mated with my sister. If you’ll excuse me. I have to go and collect my mate.”
Theo gave his shoulder a nudge and winked. Graham shook his head and set off back toward the kitchen. As he walked, he thought of all the ways he could walk in there and punish her for being late. He considered silently stalking her and throwing her over his shoulder. He thought about giving her ass a smack right in front of her employees. His thoughts turned even darker as he imagined throwing her on the alpha table in the dining hall and fucking her for Dane, Gerald and everyone else to see her scream his name
when she came.
The spiraling of his thoughts dragged him back to earlier that day when Catherine met Morgan. He knew she was funneling her good vibes to him throughout the day, leaving her emotions open for him to read. She must have forgotten she’d done it because he’d felt her rage the moment Morgan made herself known. He was halfway to the salon already when Thomas called.
He was shocked to see her visions of hurting Morgan. Catherine had never expressed such hatred or anger before or shown such violent tendencies even when discussing Dominic. There was something recognizable about the darkness, something familiar. When he walked into the salon and saw the expression on her face, it had clicked. It was him. It was the darkness he kept hidden around her that seeped through their bond, becoming as much a part of her as it always had been with him. He would need to discuss it with her. His darkness combined with her gift? The results could be disastrous.
As he considered all of this, he looked up to see a flustered Catherine rushing out of the door. Her fingers combed through her loose hair and then flattened over her dress. A flicker of disappointment pulled at his chest knowing he couldn’t necessarily punish her now. She looked up and smirked and he knew she’d caught the disappointment in his eyes. He brushed it aside and instead took in her beauty. She’d had to do her own makeup after he’d carried her out of the salon, not that she’d needed it. She could show up to this event in her flannel pajama set with five-day-old greasy hair and lettuce in her teeth and still be the most stunning creature in the building.
Catherine stepped up to him and glanced at the time on her phone. “What happened to ‘even a second late and I’ll…””
Graham cut her off with a kiss. He turned her and pushed her slowly back until she met the wall. He pulled away and brushed some flour from her cheek. Her hands pressed flat against his chest.
“Let’s just go home,” he whispered.
Catherine chuckled. “After all the work I just put into this meal? You don’t want to try it?”
“We could get a box to go,” he reasoned. “I know a guy.”
She laughed and ran her hands up to his neck. “We can do this.”
“Do you remember the rules?” he asked, nuzzling his nose into her neck and inhaling. Her fingers tightened against his neck.
“There were so many of them,” she teased, lengthening her throat for him to keep kissing.
“One,” he began, kissing under her jaw. “Stay away from Dane. Two.” He kissed a few inches lower. “Stay away from Gerald and, what did you call her? Bitch?” Catherine purred. “Three.” He kissed the top of her shoulder, a few inches from his mark. “Don’t let on about your gift. Four.” He kissed another inch closer to his mark. Her nails bit into his skin. “You don’t drink or eat anything that hasn’t first passed through my lips. Five.” His lips hovered over his mark and she shivered. “What’s five, Baby?”
3/4
Chapter Eighty-Seven
“1…” she took in a shaky breath. “I do whatever it takes to keep you from losing control.”
“Good girl,” Graham whispered before finally sucking at the crescent scar. She moaned and became putty in his hands. “Come on.”
Graham stepped back, loving the flush in her face he’d created. He took her hand and led her into the dining hall. With her by his side, he expected to feel relieved. Instead his instinct to protect and conceal his mate from the numerous threats turned his stomach. He felt his skin shiver as they walked into the room.
He could feel eyes on them, looking her over. He fought the urge to pull her into his chest and growl at anyone who came too close. The hair on the back of his neck rose and he instinctively looked to his right where Dane, Gerald, Morgan, Jensen and Elliot were staring them down. He tightened his grip on Catherine’s hand and, bless her, she brought her second hand to clasp it around his. Dane’s gaze swept down Catherine and the lecherous look nearly did him in. Then the alpha licked his lips and Graham’s vision tunneled.
