Chapter 160 - Returning Home

Zoe was forgotten, left locked up in a cell still rambling and giggling to herself as the others left for Graeme and Greta's childhood home.

They climbed through the dark throat of the dungeon that led out to the forest before sprinting through the hilly expanse of trees that spread between the pack house and their parents' deserted home.

Graeme was carrying August in his arms unsure of whether she was going to make it. Again. Running through the forest with her unconscious. Again. This shouldn't keep happening.

But unlike when he found himself in this position in suicide forest, Graeme was positive about what losing this girl would mean to him now. He tried not to dwell on it at the moment. He wasn't going to lose her. The conversation with Penelope was unsettling in many ways, but it also gave him confidence in his mate's strength and capabilities. She was fae, after all. Fae. It was insane.

And he had just watched her save Greta. That white glow that had emanated from both of them in the cell… he still had a hard time believing that he witnessed that. He wondered if that was anything like what August saw when she saw the Veiled. Because if it was… what an incredible way to walk through the world.

His mate had saved his sister. Graeme swallowed back the emotion of it. And now August's head was jostling against him as he sought a refuge for her—a place where maybe Greta could return the favor.

How was this happening again?

He ran up the side yard after Greta and Sam and followed them through the front door that he had walked through day after day as a child. Greta led through the living and dining room and into their parents' old bedroom where Graeme laid her down on the bed. Greta climbed in bed next to her to check her vitals again.

Graeme ran his hands down his face as he watched, helpless once more.

"I can't find anything wrong," Greta finally said, looking up at her brother who was now pacing.

Graeme groaned and ran his hands through his hair. "What about the thing she pulled from you… or whatever. What if that is affecting her? What did Zoe say… that it could be corrupting her?"

"I don't remember any of it happening. I don't know. I don't know how that would manifest or what to do if I can't see the actual signs of it harming her," Greta shook her head.

"Can't I just have everyone I love safe for fucking once?" Graeme growled. There shouldn't be a tradeoff between his sister or August. He needed both of them.

"What did Penelope say?" Greta asked. "Anything useful?"

Graeme scoffed. "Where do I start? What do you know about the fae?"

"Fae?!" Greta repeated it in surprise. "As in… from fairy tales?"

"I mean, we are technically from fairy tales. Is it that surprising?" Graeme replied with a wry smile.

Greta chuckled. "Fairy tales aren't named after us." When she glanced back at her brother, the laughter died in her throat. "You are serious, aren't you?"

Graeme nodded, and she cleared her throat.

"Okay, fae… what do I know from the folklore? People began dressing up during Samhain to keep the fae from kidnapping them when the veil between worlds was thin, because once a mortal is kidnapped and taken to the underworld, they are trapped there at least until the next Samhain."

Graeme frowned. He remembered those stories, too, but they weren't helpful in this case. The alyko and his mate were here—there was no threat of an underworld.

"Not useful?" Greta guessed. "Um… what else? They are said to live in fairy hills," she added. "If you step inside a fairy ring in the forest, you are forced to dance with them until you die of exhaustion or go crazy."

Graeme groaned and ran a hand down his face. "Nevermind." Obviously the folklore was not going to be helpful.

"No wait… Um… There are hidden portals in certain areas of the forest that open during Samhain. Fairies are often depicted with wings. The females are seductresses…"

Sam raised an eyebrow at Graeme, waiting for his reaction. Graeme just rolled his eyes and watched his sister continue searching the encyclopedia of knowledge in her brain. It was amusing when she really got going.

"There are said to be elemental fairies who personify particular forces of nature and have the power to control those forces…" she continued. Graeme grunted in recognition, and her eyes snapped to him.

"Sounds familiar, doesn't it?" he asked.

"Do you mean… did Penelope say the alyko are fae?" Greta's mouth dropped open. "That's impossible. They are born from lycans. That doesn't make any sense."

"Unless we have those genetics as well," he replied.

She scoffed. "What?"

"Penelope said that La Loba was fae—a, I don't know, an extra special fae of some kind. She had control over all of the elements, and that night when the first lycan was created through her fire song or whatever, the full moon added a little something extra that made it happen," he tried to summarize the complicated explanation that Penelope had given him.

"Fae?" Greta repeated, still unable to process it. "La Loba was fae?"

He nodded, one arm crossed over his chest while the other ran over his beard thoughtfully.

"And that makes August…" Greta started, leaving him to fill in the rest.

"Apparently August is a purer form of fae—she has more of the fae genes than most alyko, thanks to whatever the virus did when she was infected," his eyebrows pinched together in thought. "Penelope made it sound like August would be… very powerful."

They all stood silently thinking about what August had just done in the cell room by healing Greta. Was it because she was fae?

"I have a question," Sam spoke. "The fairy thing is crazy and all, but… isn't it just a matter of the name being different? What does it matter if they are called alyko or fae?"

"It may matter and it may not," Greta replied.. "If we know more about the fae in the folklore, it may give us more clues about our alyko as well as what we can expect from August."