Chapter Eighty-Eight
Catherine remembered rule number five. She stepped in front of Graham and pressed her hand against his chest. Graham’s black eyes slowly closed. He took in a deep breath. When his eyes reopened they were brown tinted with red thanks to the golden lighting above them. She smiled up at him and pushed her hand under his jacket. The warmth of his chest radiated through her skin.
“Breathe,” she whispered. “We can do this. Come on.”
Catherine took his hand this time and walked toward their table. She’d helped the rest of the kitchen staff set up the dining tables earlier and knew the one front and center was meant for the lycan alphas, their lunas and, lucky for them, Graham and Catherine.
“I don’t like this,” Graham groaned into her ear as he helped her into her seat.
Graham sat in the chair beside her. He reached over, grabbed her water and took a swig. A moment later he nodded and put it back in front of her. She felt his dark emotions whirling around them, causing the wait staff to give them a wide berth as they passed. She smiled and placed her hand on his thigh.
“Is there something I can do to help you… relax?” Catherine asked. She moved her hand inward and up.
Graham’s other hand caught her wrist. He turned to stare at her with wide eyes causing her to burst out laughing. He shook his head, trying and failing to keep his lips from tilting up. He leaned over and kissed her, cutting off her giggles.
“Careful, Baby, if these men keep staring at you as if you’re a ham hock I may let that hand keep going so they know exactly who you belong to. What will you do then?” he asked, raising his eyebrow.
She touched a finger to her lip and looked upward. She glanced under the table cloth. “I think I could fit under there to finish the job in private,” she whispered. His grip on her wrist tightened in warning.
“Fit under where?” Lucien asked, taking his seat across from Graham.
“Oh, nothing… yet,” Catherine answered with a wink to her mate whose eyes bulged.
Lucien chuckled. “I see the drinking has commenced.”
A second alpha with salt and pepper hair pulled the chair out across from Catherine. He guided his luna, a beauty with mahogany hair and piercing blue eyes, into the seat and kissed her temple before taking the seat beside her.
“Catherine, this is Alpha Elliot and his Luna Marie,” Graham introduced.
“So nice to meet you,” Catherine said with a bob of her head.
“Likewise,” Marie said with a genuine smile. “Congratulations on your bonding and your new title.”
“Thank you,” Graham and Catherine said at the same time.
The chair beside Graham scraped across the floor, drawing everyone’s attention. Graham groaned again and shifted to face Catherine. She glanced across him and echoed his groan. Morgan moved her red hair to the other shoulder and she leaned over her plate. The slit down the front of her dress going all the way to her navel threatened to burst open at any moment. Morgan gave Catherine a pleasant wave.
“Hello Catherine, so nice to see you again. You look gorgeous,” Morgan complimented. Catherine narrowed her eyes in suspicion just as Morgan’s father, Alpha Gerald sat beside her.
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Dane left Joann at the hotel and said I could have her seat.”
“Is there a problem with that, Grey?” Alpha Dane himself asked.
Catherine’s body locked up. Graham told her everything that happened in the meeting with them that morning. She knew Gerald surrendered his deal to Graham… for now. She also knew Dane adamantly refused to do the same. She wanted to ignore the man but her own curiosity had her head tilting back to look at him.
He was huge. Larger than Jensen and twice as thick with dark hair and grey eyes that pierced right through her. His eyes roamed downward and she immediately recognized the look of a predator. She swallowed and looked back down at the table, her earlier confidence now completely smothered as the alpha sat in the chair right beside her. Graham’s hand fell in her lap and he squeezed in reassurance. They were surrounded but they were in this together.
“Do you need some help to relax?” Graham whispered in her hair before nipping the shell of her ear.
“Don’t you dare,” Catherine hissed, earning her a chuckle.
Jensen and Rebecca sat at the head of the table. Catherine was happy to see Rebecca looking relatively normal. There was still sadness in her eyes but her smile seemed as though she was truly trying to enjoy herself and play the perfect hostess. She had her hair up and a beautiful floor-length emerald gown. She looked like the perfect luna, whether she felt that way or not.
Dinner was served. Plates of roasted lamb, asparagus, roasted potatoes and rolls. A comfortable chatter began around the table. Catherine glanced around the room to see how everyone else enjoyed the meal. She caught the eye of Theo and Natalie and waved. Natalie blew her a kiss followed by a more vulgar display by Theo that had Natalie laughing uncontrollably. How badly she wished she was down there with them.
“… and thanks to the popularity of the kitchen, the farm has been able to expand. They tell me next season they plan to double their output,” Rebecca said.
“Do you enjoy working?” Marie asked.
Graham nudged Catherine and she focused back in on their own table. “I’m sorry?”
“Your work in the kitchen. You’re very talented,” Elliot repeated for his luna.
“Thank you, I’m glad I’ve been able to continue my work here,” Catherine said.
Beside her Dane scoffed. All eyes turned to him. Graham put his arm on the back of Catherine’s chair and placed his hand along the
back of her neck.
“A future Luna should not be cooking lamb in the kitchen,” Dane grumbled.
“And pray tell what should a luna be doing?” Marie asked.
Dane smiled. “A luna’s place is in the bedroom breeding the next generation.”
Rebecca, Marie and Gerald’s Luna, Jasmine, all rolled their eyes. “So that’s why you keep running through all of yours? Can’t find one willing to do such a degrading thing?” Rebecca challenged.
Dane’s eyes cut to her and a calculative grin spread across his face. “Perhaps if you were treated as such, you wouldn’t have fallen apart the moment your only son was yanked off your teet.”
214
Chapter Eighty-Eight
“Hey, Jensen warned. Rebecca’s eyes misted and she shook her head before looking back down at her plate. “Rebecca raised her son beautifully. She’s helped me run this pack and all of my accomplishments are hers.” Jensen placed his hand over Rebecca’s on the table. Rebecca gave him a grateful smile and he kissed her temple.
“I’m sure she knows of all your dealings, Jensen. She knew of Catherine, right?” Dane continued to provoke.
“I didn’t even know of Catherine until Graham brought her home.”
“Right.” Dane laughed. “What about you, Catherine?” he asked, looking down at her. Graham’s hand tightened on her neck. “Does Grey tell you everything?”
“Yes,” she said without hesitation.
“So you know all about Dominic’s rogues showing back up yesterday?” Dane asked, earning several murmurs from the other alphas and their lunas. Again Graham’s grip tightened.
“He didn’t have to tell me.”
“Oh?”
“He leaves himself open to me at all times. I knew something was wrong. I saw Lucas leaving with Kyle and Luther right before we came into the dining hall. If we weren’t already running late because of me, I’m sure he would have told me immediately. I’ll ask him about it later and he’ll tell me. Won’t you?” she asked Graham. He gave her a proud smile and nodded.
“Hm, so I suppose he’s explained why Dominic is so determined to bring revenge to Blackmoore,” Dane said with a nod while he picked at his lamb.
“He’s not after Graham,” Catherine hissed. Graham’s hand moved down to her thigh and squeezed in warning to not say too much.
“Of course not, he’s after you, right? He just happened to come across a beautiful, gifted, alpha lycan one day while out on a jog in
the woods of Moonstone?”
“How do you know that?” Graham asked.
Dane chuckled and glanced over Catherine to meet Graham’s narrowed gaze. “You’d be surprised how much I know, Pup.”
“What are you saying?” Catherine asked, not caring if she was falling into a trap. If this man knew something she didn’t, she needed
to hear it.
Dane smiled down at her and his eyes perused her face for a moment causing Graham’s grip on her thigh to become almost painful. “Well, Darling, what I’m saying is Dominic sought revenge and he found not only that but a way to solidify himself in history.” He reached out to touch her cheek but before he could, Graham ripped her chair across the floor closer to himself and growled. Dane chuckled.
“Spit it out, Alpha Dane, I’m not one for riddles,” Catherine retorted. She placed her hand on Graham’s arm and focused her calm energy over him.
“Feisty, that’s good, it’ll come in handy soon enough,” Dane chortled. He took a sip of his water. “You should have told her to wait on being marked, Jensen. She’ll need someone who can actually protect her.”
“I have every faith in my mate to protect me from anything or anyone who threatens our bond,” Catherine growled.
Dane’s brows rose in amusement. “Is that so? Revenge is a powerful motivator. Especially when a man’s mother is killed in front of
him.”
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