Chapter 392: Seeds of Prejudice 2
Graeme fixed his golden stare on the male who had questioned him now and who had once threatened his mate in conspiracy with the elders. He prowled through the crowd while Terach remained rooted defiantly in his spot, unwavering as the Alpha approached.
It was one thing to see Graeme coming from a distance, but once he got closer the authority with which he carried himself prickled the hairs on everyone near and made them quiver with the need to submit to him. The burning gold of his eyes only increased this effect, making him seem almost otherworldly—as if he had descended from the stars with the power of the gods and goddesses leading him. This was an Alpha like no other that they had previously known.
Even Terach, so stubborn in the face of authority, felt his knees quiver when those golden eyes were right in front of him and the Alpha aura engulfed him.
"I will tell you this," Graeme growled, inches from the male’s face. "The fact that you have once threatened my mate does not endear you to me. You put your hands on her, did you not?"
Terach clenched his jaw and jutted his chin out in response.
"You will answer to your Alpha," Graeme said so low, everyone near could feel the sound vibrate through them to their toes. "Did you touch my mate?"
"I did," Terach replied through his teeth that were clenched in an attempt to keep those words from escaping, but he could not deny an order like this.
The gold thrummed deeper in Graeme’s eyes as his anger flared at this. He knew what happened. He saw the mark on August’s cheek from where this male had struck her when he returned that day, having to defend her from the council’s own guards as they sought to imprison her.
"She interfered. Mates are sacred. I can do with my female as I wish and no one has any right to get involved," Terach added, remembering the excuse that he had been given when Andreas primed him for his role in the forest that day. He was to bait the witch into trying to prevent him from harming his mate, and then he would have every right to retaliate against her. "And then she stole the air right from my lungs. How is that a typical Luna behavior?" he asked, though his voice croaked at the end.
"You hit her with your full strength and you ask why she would react defensively?" Graeme snarled, the threat dancing dangerously in the air around them, causing everyone standing nearby to step back.
"I could not breathe," Terach replied, his body beginning to quiver with its resistance to the forceful aura of his Alpha.
"And I would have done worse," Graeme responded. "You will submit to your Alpha or you will find yourself a stray."
Terach attempted to hold the golden stare in defiance, but he dropped his eyes and found himself on his knees before the Alpha male in front of him. The rebellious anger in him flamed high one more time before that too was doused, and he began trembling on the ground like a wet pup who was caught out in the rain.
This was the effect of an Alpha on his people. It was not just physical dominance—it was the reigning in of that energetic rebellion as well. Graeme may as well have urinated on him in front of the whole pack for the effect it had.
"From today," Graeme turned to the rest of his pack who was still gathered. "No abuse of mates shall be tolerated. I stand with my Luna on this. Mates are truly sacred, but that does not mean they can be mistreated and abused. It is not common practice, but it does occur," he added, glancing back down at Terach who was still at his feet. "Any mate who finds themself the target of abuse can come to the pack house where you will be received and provided with shelter and protection."
As he walked away from Terach, he caught the male’s mate looking at him with hopeful eyes. Maybe this would give her the courage to seek refuge from the abuse she was subjected to at Terach’s hands. It was not an easy decision to make, and it would never be easy—for the abuse from a mate had deep, long-lasting effects. But Graeme was determined to make that another priority—providing more opportunities in this pack for healing. This was a process they would seek and learn together, and the pack house would be a place of welcome for all.
"Selah, do you know why the alyko do not age when they are where the vampire keeps them?" he asked as he returned to where he had been standing by Charlotte and Sylvia. He did not wish for the alyko to be forced to speak to the pack as if they were on trial. "Can you try to explain it in a way that the pack members will understand?"
"Of course," Selah replied, bowing in instinctive deference to the show of authority she just witnessed.
"The alyko have been hidden away in a place that is difficult to access," Selah said to those who were listening attentively, eager to know more. "It is a pocket carved out in space... like another dimension. The characteristics of that dimension make it so that time passes differently—much more slowly in terms of age than it does for us," she said, simplifying the complexities of which she did not even fully understand. Her hope was that with the little that she grasped of the portal world her mother created, it would help satisfy the pack’s curiosity enough that they would not ask for quantum-level details that she could not provide.
She watched as the lycans here slowly began to welcome and embrace the alyko who had been missing, the pups finding their families and Camila and Elsie finding old friends. The mood went from shock and awe and suspicion to a gradual blooming joy that opened over them all, and Selah found herself smiling as she watched the faces of all of those who opened to receive their long lost pack members. It was truly a miracle for them to have returned—one that was being realized now.
"Your mate is extraordinary," Selah whispered next to Graeme who was also watching this scene unfold.
Graeme sighed, the ache of not having August by his side covered over by the truth in Selah’s words.
"Yes, she is."
