Chapter 212 - Fall

Why would Zoe tell Greta that? August gasped internally. Could she really be that intelligent and that stupid at the very same time? Did she want to die?

August felt her mate go rigid, tensed next to her with every muscle poised in anticipation for what his sister may do in response to this information.

Greta's fingers curled tighter around Zoe's narrow arm, and Zoe knew it was coming. But there was a moment when Greta glanced back at her mate, feeling the swell of their mutual loss ripple between them for the life they had created together.

Lucas saw the exchange between Greta and her mate and realized it for what it was—a request for permission. He shoved past one of the deck chairs to stop her, but Sam seized him by the shoulders.

"Greta, no!" Graeme sprung from his place next to August when he registered the first movement from his sister, but her speed and strength was nearly equal his, and he ended up grabbing onto her just as Zoe was being launched over the glass railing of the deck.

Zoe was falling, the fresh wind whipping past her, pushing with its resistance to her weight, and she closed her eyes to imagine herself flying like one of the birds out here that had no restrictions on their natural given abilities. She stretched her arms out, willing them to be feathered wings but they only bent back with the air's resistance instead.

Gravity would claim her. It was exhilarating and terrifying and sad. Another person had attempted to take her life. Was it that or the inevitable outcome that left such a profound emptiness inside of her as she fell the remaining distance?

Graeme cursed under his breath as he and Lucas tore through the house and down the steps. It was over a 70 foot drop. A lycan dropped from that height would take days to recover, if not longer.

August rushed to the railing and looked over, but there was no direct line of sight. Too many leaves and limbs obscured the drop to the ground. Her shoulders sagged. Now how would they reveal to the pack all that was needed without Zoe to aid them?

Next to her, Greta was trembling in rage as she also peered over the railing. So this was why there were so many miscarriages. This is why all these females had suffered the crushing loss of their pregnancies and of their hope. Zoe and the elders were behind it.

The elders were responsible for her parents' deaths, for the alyko, for the miscarriages, for Livvy's disappearance. Why didn't they just march into the pack house now and take the remaining two old men out? What was the point in waiting for Samhain? Someone like Zoe could never be trusted, and they didn't need her. Greta huffed, waves of rage rolling off of her as she turned and stalked through the house after the males.

August was left alone on the deck, and she turned with her back to the railing, sliding down the smooth glass until she was sitting on the ground watching the water in the pool rippling in response to the breeze. They hadn't been here to clean the pool and hadn't thought to cover it, and it was littered with brown and gold leaves across its surface.

She let out a shaky breath, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them to her. Zoe hadn't even made a sound when Greta threw her over. It was like she knew it was coming. Like she had expected it. Was this her way of escaping having to face the pack and the elders? It just didn't seem like something Zoe would do. Then again, she didn't know Zoe at all.

"Wait," August let her legs unfold awkwardly in front of her before she sprung up and made her own way down the steps around the tree following the other four who had descended in front of her.

She slowed as she approached the final steps and heard Greta roaring in frustration nearby.

"So what? You can't die?"

Lucas was crouched defensively in front of Zoe who was stiffly pulling herself up into a seated position. Graeme and his Beta were standing aside, gawking at the young girl who had no scratches or abrasions of any kind after that massive fall.

"I can't tell you what I am. So I thought perhaps I could show you something," Zoe sounded morose, a stark contrast to her usual chipper and heedless rambling.

August approached with the intention to evaluate Zoe, but Graeme snatched her by the wrist, pulling her back behind him.

"She could be anything. She could be a damn aswang for all we know," he growled.

"I don't know what that means," August replied softly from behind him.

"It's a demonic creature that shape shifts and feeds on unborn babies," Greta snarled without taking her eyes off of Zoe.

"No, I just… like science," Zoe shrugged.

"What does that have to do with you surviving a 100 foot fall?" Sam snorted.

"It was 74 feet, actually," she stood up and dusted herself off. "I wish I could die. I really do." August's eyebrows pinched together hearing the truth and pain in her voice.

"That makes you what? Immortal?" Greta asked, every word dripping with disgust.

"For now," the girl sighed. "Surviving the fall doesn't have anything to do with being a scientist. I was referring to the miscarriages. The serum. The experiments. All of this has been in service to Andreas. I don't… eat fetuses." Her face distorted.

"Right, because that would be beneath you," Greta scoffed.

"Okay," August stepped out from behind Graeme.

Regardless of what Zoe did, she couldn't take all of this venom that was being hurled at the girl. Zoe was creepy and she felt wrong in so many ways. She had done some terrible things, but August had also witnessed the pain and struggle that she dealt with internally. Zoe just wasn't a simple being that could be easily categorized.. She was complicated.