My Lycan Mate of Suicide Forest

"Is she okay?" August stayed put against Graeme's body, too comforted there by his warmth and the delicious feeling of his protection to move. For some reason she had a feeling she would need that comfort for this conversation.

Graeme's silence in response to her question was answer enough. But Violet had made it back here and she was lycan, so how bad could it really be?

"What happened?" the words were cautious, unsure of whether it was their true desire to be answered.

"She is not healing," his voice grave.

"What do you mean?" August finally pulled away, shock and confusion warring for expression on her face.

"She has wounds all over, and they aren't healing as they should."

"But why?" a frown creased her forehead. No wonder his thoughts were so unsettled about this.

"She says it was from a bite," his eyes searched hers, wondering if she would be able to hear this without it affecting her own feelings about herself.

"Why would a bite cause that?"

He was dragging his feet telling her the extent of this, she could feel it. Graeme cleared his throat. "I need you to hear me fully on this, Moon."

She frowned. "Why wouldn't I?"

He sighed. "She says… that she was bitten by someone with gold eyes like yours. Someone who claimed he would be taking her wolf."

The words remained on the exterior of her comprehension, waiting to sink in. But they wouldn't.

"W-what?" she breathed, her thoughts stumbling over what he said. That just wasn't possible.

"It sounds like it was someone else from Eliade."

She shook her head slowly. "No. That can't be right. That's not… possible."

But of course it was possible. Why would she be the only one? Did she think she was special? There was an entire matriculating class at Eliade who had experimental subjects just like she was, and that was only at this one University. There were universities elsewhere, of course. This was a global operation, and it would be bearing fruit by now. What would that mean? What would that mean for them here, but also… what would that mean for humans? For the world?

And someone like her had known what they could do? That their bite would take the wolf from a lycan?

"So Violet's wolf is…"

"I don't know for sure, but that's what she says and believes. And she isn't healing like she should. The healer caring for her said she was healing like a human."

"Oh Goddess," August's eyes were wide now that the possibility was sinking in. It wasn't just a possibility, this sounded too much like what she had inadvertently done to Marius. This was a probability. There was someone nearby who was like her.

"Unfortunately, there is more," Graeme groaned. He couldn't keep any of this from her even if he wanted to. As leaders of the pack, they would need to learn to do it together.

"M-more?" That wasn't enough? Violet being deprived of her wolf? If Violet hated August's existence before and questioned the truth of her mate bond with Graeme, it was certainly going to be worse now when August belonged to the same unexplainable, mysterious kind as this male who had harmed her.

Graeme nodded. "I think it's a mate mark, but I don't know for sure. She would be the only one who could tell us, but she's so shaken up at this point, I don't know if she even knows. Or if the bond did take, she's probably refusing to believe it."

"Why did he do it? Why did he bite her? Are they actually mates?"

"I don't know if they are actually mates. She didn't characterize it that way, but like I said… if they are, maybe it's just that she isn't allowing herself to process it. She made it seem like she was attacked because she crossed into another pack's territory. She was attacked by other lycans first."

"Plural? How bad is it? And she's not healing?" August gulped.

"She's being cared for. She will be okay, but it is pretty bad."

"Maybe I can help somehow," she sat up, wrapping a sheet around her shoulders.

Graeme frowned and sat up facing her.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not? I know she doesn't like me for obvious reasons, but maybe…"

"She thinks… she thinks that since this male is similar in appearance to you that you are part of the reason he bit her and took her wolf. That it was payback somehow for her helping in the plot against you."

"That's ridiculous. How could I even know that guy? How would he know?" she scoffed.

"I know. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But she isn't thinking clearly. It must be from the trauma." His eyebrows pinched together.

"There is something else you aren't telling me," she said, the words spilling out as the realization bloomed in her mind. He was holding something else back.

Graeme closed his eyes and raked a hand over his face. "She was raped."

The words shook her. She felt like they physically shook her. That or the air was quaking around her with her remaining unmoving at its center.

Graeme watched as the color drained from his mate's face and she wrapped the sheet tighter around herself. He shouldn't have told her yet. She wasn't going to be able to sleep.

August dropped her head, staring into the void of her lap where the sheet criss-crossed. That explained why Violet was so traumatized. Now she knew she had to help her.

"Maybe I can…" she started, and Graeme reached to stop her, placing his hand over hers under the covers.

"No," he shook his head.

"What?" her forehead crinkled as she raised her head to meet his eyes again. Why was he telling her no.

"You are not going to do that to yourself."

"Do what to myself?" she frowned. "She's part of this pack, too. Maybe I can help her like I helped Greta in the dungeon. I can try… I can see if there is something…"

"I don't think that's going to work, Moon," he said softly.

"How can you know that?"

"What if this male is her mate? You think you can heal her from that?" he asked patiently. "It wouldn't be possible. You can only hurt yourself in the process."

"Why would that hurt me though? Just to try?"

"I honestly think she is terrified of you at this point anyway, love. It's not your fault.. And it's definitely not something you should put yourself through."