My Lycan Mate of Suicide Forest

"I just needed to hear your voice," Graeme sighed into his cell, raking a hand through his hair.

He was back in his office, sitting at his father's desk.

"Are you okay, Bun?" August asked on the other end. It sounded like she was panting lightly.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Where are you?" he asked, his eyes narrowing into the empty space in front of him.

"Uh, I'm in the market. I have to find my camera. I dropped it somewhere in the woods the other day," she admitted, chuckling and biting her bottom lip.

Graeme groaned. "Are you okay? You walked there?"

"Yeah! It's not far. I'm going to be fine, I promise," she replied.

"It's not the nicest of days today," he remarked, looking out the windows of his office at the grey chilly day. He imagined her walking all the way from his parents' house to the market in this. She had to be cold.

"I bundled up. Don't worry about me, okay? You have a lot going on there today. I just want to grab my camera and the little plastic toy camera Sage was using, and then I'll go home until the pup's lesson," she assured him.

Her voice was so soothing, calming the spiked edges that had erupted in his chest with Auden. It was a relief that ignorant male was gone. But he wondered if he told August about it, how she would feel. She wasn't used to that kind of violence. Eventually she would learn about his nature—about how easy it was for him to just end someone like that. Like how he did to those two bastards from her past. He wasn't sure how she would feel about that either.

"Graeme?" her voice brought him back to himself. Back to her. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay now. Thanks, Moon. Be careful and call me if anything happens, okay?" he replied, glancing to the door of his office as Sylvia, Charlotte, and Sam walked in.

"I will. Love you, buddy," August replied before they ended the call.

"Did you tell her?" Sam's eyebrows shot up, amused at his own question.

"No," Graeme grumbled, tossing the phone on his desk.

"I understand why you did that, Graeme. I do. And I don't necessarily disagree. But…" Sylvia began, walking to a chair and sitting down. "Do you think it's possible that the council members will be more suspicious about our Luna now? You silenced his dissension."

"No one questions mate bonds," Graeme growled. "Questioning mine just because she isn't lycan will not be tolerated. I don't care how it looks."

Sylvia crossed her legs and looked at him the way he imagined his mother would have—in a way that suggested he think about what he just said.

"You are different, Alpha. Others will question you," she responded gently. "Your decisions affect everyone."

"The mate bond is not a decision," he argued, allowing his arm to fall heavily on his desk.

"You could have rejected her and stayed away," Sylvia pointed out.

"Is that what I should have done?" Graeme glared at her now.

"You are changing the subject, my dear. Of course I don't believe that. But it was a decision that you made. You followed the calling of your soul. You completed the bond that the Moon Goddess gave you. I am simply saying that others may question that decision if they fear how it affects them."

"Sylvia is right, Graeme," Charlotte approached the desk. "You must be prepared for how you will react the next time it is questioned."

React. React. He had reacted without thinking of the long term. It took him back to what August's tree guardian had advised him when he was with her. The leadership for this pack needed more than that from him. But honestly, he couldn't regret what he did to Auden. Perhaps it would make others less likely to spew their ignorant, hateful opinions about the alyko or about his mate in the future.

"I value your opinions. That is why I brought you here, thank you," he replied genuinely. "And thank you for agreeing to advise me in matters like this. So what do I do now?"

"You need to prepare your response to Andreas' argument for the map," Sylvia suggested.

"And they need to meet your Luna," Charlotte added. "She was brought here for a purpose. They will see it. You cannot protect her from them forever, for it is them who also need her."

He nodded. "You are right."

"What would convince them that she is our Luna and not an imposter of some kind? That she is an alyko who can be trusted?" Sam asked.

They all looked around at each other, considering it.

"She is the Moon Goddess' choice for us. It should become apparent to them. Just as Graeme was certain she was his mate when he found her running through the forest, they will realize with certainty that she is their Luna," Charlotte answered.

"Is it really that simple?" Sam asked, running a hand down his beard.

"Don't you believe she is your Luna, Samuel?" Charlotte questioned to which he nodded in response. "And how did you come to that realization?"

"I suppose it was seeing them together for the first time. The way Graeme acts around her is like nothing I have ever seen from him before, and I've known him his whole life," he replied honestly.

"And do you believe it is possible that the special abilities, the power to create enchantments that the alyko possess could be responsible for Graeme's feelings about this female rather than the mate pull that is divinely created?" Charlotte asked.

Graeme's fingers curled on the desk in front of him. He was so tired of this. Would he and August always have to face this scrutiny? Just because she was alyko or fae or whatever the hell she was without a wolf?

"I am only asking, Graeme, because it is what will be going through some of their minds. The distrust of the alyko is that strong. Some believe that these so-called 'witches' possess the ability to do anything, even mimic a mate-pull or mate bond," Charlotte spoke, realizing the tension that had been created in her Alpha.

"I don't believe that, because I don't feel that way about the alyko. I never have," Sam replied. "I haven't witnessed an alyko be devious in that way. They were always kind."

"But some of our council and pack members do believe they are capable of it," Sylvia spoke to her son. "What would they think? That is what we need to anticipate."

"How do we convince anyone who is prejudice against them?" Graeme growled.

"We have to trust that the Moon will lead them," Charlotte said reverently, "And us."