Chapter 366: Greta’s Anger 2
The door to Violet’s room flew open, slamming against the wall as Greta stormed in. Ignoring Sylvia’s shocked expression as the elder jolted up in response to the intrusion, Greta walked right up to Violet’s bed where she was huddled under a blanket like a terrified puppy in the middle of a storm.
"What did you say to my brother?" she snarled, grabbing Violet by the collar and shaking a whimper out of her.
Violet’s eyes were so wide, the white was visible all the way around her irises, and she looked Sylvia’s way in a silent plea for help. Sylvia’s mouth hung open, but she stood back, allowing Greta her confrontation. It was best not to get in the way of an angry, pregnant lycan female.
"I-I don’t know w-what you mean," Violet’s eyebrows pulled together in the most pitiful look of innocence she could manage, but it wasn’t enough to make Greta back down.
"You were eavesdropping on us last night in the other room. You knew he lost his memory, and you decided to take advantage of that. Am I wrong?" Greta asked, venom dripping with every enraged word.
"I just want him to be careful. I was attacked by someone..." Violet started to explain.
"Someone who looks just like August? How convenient," Greta finished for her. "You are a lycan, Violet—a lycan born to the Hallowell pack. You were made to be fierce and honorable, upholding the divine plan for this pack as one with the rest of us. At what point did you lose sight of that? At what point did you choose to instead follow your own selfish desires rather than heeding the call of the Goddess? Don’t you trust that she would have something better for you than you could imagine for yourself?" Greta seethed, not easing the grip on Violet’s collar as she stared her down, accusing the cowardice in her eyes.
"What do you mean?" Violet’s bottom lip trembled as she found herself the victim of Greta’s fury once again.
"You are one of us, and yet you hold yourself somehow higher thinking you are above whatever destiny is calling to you. You refuse to hear it, and you bring us all down with you because of it. How did you get yourself into this mess? Was it someone else who led you into another pack’s territory?" Greta accused, finally letting go of the female’s shirt and letting her sink back down into the bed.
"No, it was my stupid, selfish mistake. I wanted... this," she admitted, looking down into the hands in her lap. "Not this—I didn’t know this would happen—not all of it, but I was feeling horrible about myself and I didn’t want to-to live anymore... I admitted all of this to him, okay? I know this is my fault!" she cried, tears escaping from her eyes and dripping into the hands she was holding open to receive them.
"So you brought our pack into this mess with you. Now we have to fight yet another enemy on another front because you were feeling bad about yourself for your deceit and selfishness," Greta replied. "And we will do it, because my brother is an honorable male. But you will stay away from him with your bullshit theories. You will not so much as utter our Luna’s name. And if I ever see you anywhere near him, I will find the one who did this to you and offer you to him on a fucking platter—I vow it."
Violet sat stunned into silence as she avoided Greta’s eyes.
"I hope you find the strength inside of you that makes you a fierce, formidable female worthy of this pack, Violet. It is so much more gratifying than groveling for attention and sympathy," Greta added, turning with that and giving Sylvia an exasperated glance as she headed out the door.
When she was back out in the hallway with Violet’s door shut behind her, Greta collapsed against the wall with her chest heaving. She felt a little better getting all of that off of her chest, but she was still fighting back tears of frustration. How could everything feel like it was crumbling within just a few hours of it being so wholly complete?
"August," she whispered, looking out the window to the sunlit woods surrounding the pack house. "We need you."
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August wondered if she had been gone too long and should turn back. She had yet to find anything outside of the castle grounds, despite following alongside the path leading away from it. Zagan would discover her absence eventually or Penelope would be beside herself with worry.
She had hoped there would be an obvious place where the alyko were kept close by, but apparently wherever it was was further away than she anticipated. Who even knew if she was going the right way.
"It’s boring here without Seth and the others," a gruff male voice suddenly arose close by, and she scrambled behind a tree to make sure she was not visible from the path.
"When will they return? Have you heard?" A second male asked. "It shouldn’t take them long. Word is she was captured. They were just sent to bring her back."
"I don’t know. Things are strange here now since the alyko disappeared from outer containment," the first replied.
"Do you suppose it is all coming to an end?" the second asked. "I saw a storm cloud today out over the water. I’ve never seen a storm cloud here. Not once."
Their shuffling steps grew closer, and August squeezed her eyes shut, imagining this would hide her as well. She was but a few feet from where they would pass. Thankfully her scent was kept hidden—she was grateful to her unborn pup for that.
"If it is, we should get out ahead of the collapse. You know the boss has no interest in our fate," one of them chuckled.
"It will be fine. It always is," another answered, their voices now growing distant as they continued walking, unaware that the Luna they had tried so hard to catch was free to roam about, concealed behind a tree.
"This is hardly like it always is..." the final voice trailed off, and August peeked her head out, looking either way for others that may be coming.
What did they mean? Some of the alyko disappeared? That was interesting and hopefully good news depending on where they had disappeared to. Perhaps they were able to escape while Zagan was occupied with her and Penelope. This made her all the more determined to find where they were being kept so she could see who was left. Maybe her job would be made easier in freeing the rest.
Is that what she was doing? Setting out to free them? Her and Penelope needed a more solid plan, because she wasn’t sure if it was wise to free the alyko when Zagan was still here, still alive to just go retrieve them and bring them back. That would make whatever effort she put into this completely futile.
But August didn’t know how to kill him yet, either, and she couldn’t stand just sitting around, waiting for him to decide what trials to put her through or what else to do with her for his entertainment while her mate and her pack were also needing her.
She missed Graeme so much it hurt. It hurt like nothing she had ever felt, but she had to stay focused. She was doing this for them.
"August," she heard a voice carried on the wind, and her heart almost stopped beating. "We need you."
Her eyebrows pinched together as she walked toward the sound, trying to pin it down. Where had it come from?
"Greta?" she called back. "Is that you?"
