Chapter 391: Seeds of Prejudice
"You did well," Charlotte spoke softly with a hand on Graeme’s shoulder before she turned back to the alyko who included her sister.
Questions were arising about the vampire and the alyko who returned, and Sylvia and Charlotte were handling answering—demonstrating their place now as elders in the pack with the wisdom that could enlighten them all and help guide their Alpha. Greta was helping as well by using her healing reassurance and presence to help create an energetic buffer that would shield the alyko from being too overwhelmed.
Selah was standing with the elders and Greta as well, assisting with her knowledge about the place where the alyko were kept without giving too many details away. Those who saw Selah recognized that she was the one who had brought Livvy back, returning the pup to her family who had grieved her absence so intensely. Selah was immediately trusted for that reason.
Graeme noticed a number of sour expressions on some pack members who were gathering together to one side and shooting conspiratorial glances toward where the alyko were standing.
"We are going to have to keep an eye on those," Graeme murmured to Sam who standing at his side. "It was inevitable that there would be dissenters, but I had hoped that after what we all felt last night..."
"That they would be cured of their prejudice?" Sam asked, slapping his Alpha on the back. "The pack can’t be perfect, brother. It looks like Terach is among them—the male who attacked August and threw Sage against a tree," he noticed.
Graeme’s nostrils flared as he narrowed in on the male whom Sam was speaking of. He had not know it was Terach who had done it. "If Terach’s attack was a setup..."
"It was," Neoma spoke from behind them where she was standing with Lucas, waiting to be outed as the scientific mastermind who helped plot with the elders. But Graeme had not mentioned her, much to her surprise. She was spared the revelation of her involvement for the time being.
Graeme shifted to look her way—her face that was still stitched and swollen from where Andreas had mauled her. It was not looking better, and he made a note to check with Greta about whether Neoma would need antibiotics or something that they did not typically carry on pack land given that lycans healed so quickly, they often did not get infections.
"You know of this?" Graeme asked.
"Yes, of course. I... I devised it," she said, her forehead cleaving in guilt as she dropped her eyes. "It was a test of your mate’s abilities—we wanted to see if she would light up on the map. The first test was with the mama bear in the basement at Magnolia’s cottage. The second test was with Terach and his mate."
"How did you know it would work? She was in the market that day with Sage. How did you know she would even hear Terach and his mate arguing?" Sam asked, recalling the whole nightmare of that afternoon when Greta had been thrown in the dungeon and he had followed shortly after.
"We did research on August’s background to see what triggers would likely set her off, and domestic abuse was one of them. We... I mean I figured that given what she had been through," Neoma paused, her eyes darting to Graeme in guilt, for he surely had a clue as to what all August had been through prior to coming here, and it was only a monster who would use that knowledge against her, "the threat of violence against a female would be one of the strongest triggers we could present her with. And it worked," she swallowed, her eyebrows pinching together.
"So Terach was an ally of the elders," Graeme said, his gaze returning to the male who was in the small group of pack members off to the side. Their little gathering felt energetically like a malignancy in their midst that was threatening to grow.
"Yes," Neoma confirmed it.
"Do you know of others?" Sam asked.
"I will have to think about it, but Andreas was not open with me about much. I told him what I required in this case, which was a mated couple who could act as though they were truly fighting and on the verge of abusive behavior, and he provided it. That is how it would typically work," she replied. "There were likely those who helped without understanding the full scope of what their involvement meant... like Violet that day."
A soft growl puttered in Graeme’s throat, bringing the eyes of nearby pack members to alight on him. While it wasn’t directed at them, the Alpha’s soft warning quelled the surge of curious intensity from those who were beginning to press forward to get a glimpse of the alyko who had returned.
"Why have they not aged?" Graeme heard one question from the crowd.
"Yes, why do they look the same? This seems like witchcraft," another agreed, and everyone felt the shift in the energy at that word. It was as if the whole pack held their breath, an instant fear blooming at the mention of witches.
"That will not be tolerated," Graeme roared, triggered by the word as well. "There are no witches here. That is a prejudice that I will not stand for in this pack. The alyko are our family. They have no wolves, but the Goddess has gifted them with something else extraordinary—a way of interacting with nature. No alyko will be subjected to the suspicion of witchcraft ever again in this pack."
"Your questions about the details of what has occurred are warranted, and they will be answered," he added. "But no conspiracy theories revolving around the alyko will be tolerated, and anyone intent on spreading them will be subjected to removal from this pack, for it is seeds of intolerance such as those that grow and that made possible the plot of the elders. They would not have succeeded in their plan to place blame on the alyko for my parents’ murders if there was not already the prejudice there to build upon."
"You would kick us out if we so much as question them?" Terach roared from the side of the crowd.
"No, Terach," Graeme growled. "Listen well. Your questions will be answered, but you must hear with an open heart. You must honor that unity that burns within you since last night—that burns within all of us—that guides you to hear the truth rather than plotting to sow lies."
