Chapter 393: Sacred Huddle
The sacred circle of females gathered close to the fire where Charlotte, Camile, and Sylvia were all still standing, watching the alyko filter into the crowd and take their joyous return with them.
"How can we help?" Liv asked, her expression matching the rest of the females who all looked concerned. August was gone, and there had been no mention of what plan was in place to return her.
"Right now, I think the best help is going to make sure that our females who have returned to us have a support group. We will need to be there for them, as it is still unclear how the pack will accept them, although it is looking better," Charlotte spoke slowly, scanning the pack members with the her cloudy eyes as she did.
"But what about August?" Vera asked. "We are going after her, right?"
Sylvia glanced to where Graeme was standing a short distance away, speaking with Sam, his sister, and some of the guards. They were likely arranging new perimeter protocol and a way to help secure the alyko in the pack house, as she knew that was one of the top priorities for their Alpha at this moment.
From the periphery of Sylvia’s vision, she caught Violet staring at the Alpha as well from the window of her room. There was a look of unmistakable terror on her face. Violet’s mother arrived next to her and gently pulled on her shoulders, apparently attempting to guide Violet away from where she was glued to the scene unfolding down below in horror.
"There is no plan for going after the Luna yet," Sylvia said carefully, her eyes returning to the concerned faces in front of her.
"How can that be? She is pregnant!" Vera hissed. "She carries the heir of our Alpha and the hope of our pack, but most importantly—she is August. We can’t just leave her to fight a vampire on her own!"
"Vera, there is more to understand about this situation..." Charlotte began, only to be cut off by the female with the flaming red hair.
"It doesn’t seem complicated. August needs our help, and we can’t just wait here while she is off doing this alone. Does that seem right to any of you?" she asked, looking around at the faces of those she knew so well—those she relied upon for that sacred female unity that they had built over the years.
"I think I can help you," Selah spoke from behind the group.
"Selah, of course—you retrieved Livvy, so you must know how we can get to that place," Vera said as Liv ushered Selah closer, bringing her into the huddle.
"Must I remind all of you that we need the Alpha’s blessing to form any sort of plan?" Sylvia asked. "In no way are we going to become some sort of vigilante group who is going to secretly abscond away to retrieve our Luna. Graeme is connected to his mate on the deepest level, and he will know the best way to go about this."
"Yes, this is not a simple enemy, my dears," Charlotte added. "Ancient creatures such as vampires have very few weaknesses."
"Do you know much about them, Charlotte?" Liv asked.
"I do not know much, no," the elder admitted, "which is precisely the issue."
"But Camila, you must know," Vera suggested, gesturing toward Charlotte’s sister. "You were there for ten years."
"I was," she said quietly. "But I honestly don’t know anything more than the rest of you other than the surroundings I was kept in. I did not see much of him, and no one spoke of him for fear that he was listening and would return."
"How can that be?" Vera’s eyebrows pinched together. "How can we all just stand here and do nothing?"
"Please calm down," Sylvia tried to soothe her. "You heard what Graeme said. The Goddess has brought us August, and we must trust her ability like her mate does. She has already returned members of our pack to us who have been missing for so long. That in and of itself is a remarkable thing that we could have never imagined being possible. There is a plan in all of this, and there is a path forward, but we must be patient and wait to see how it unfolds."
Vera crossed her arms tightly against her chest, clearly unhappy with this suggestion. Sylvia and Charlotte were both elders advising the Alpha now and seeking to work closely with his leadership, which meant they could not be relied upon for the task that she felt was necessary at this moment—devising a way of getting to August in order to help her. There was no way, regardless of how strong their Luna was—that she should be doing this on her own.
"I see that rebellious look in your eyes," Sylvia’s voice dropped. "Don’t do anything foolish. Any of you. We need to stand together. There is more going on here than you are aware—more even that just the ancient creature that was mentioned. You do not have all the details about what this pack faces at the moment. Keep that in mind."
Liv’s eyes darted to Vera whose chin was now jutting out defiantly. Her friend was known to have a stubborn streak, and she understood her frustration. She felt it, too.
"What will happen with Pearce?" Agnes asked from the other side of their huddle where she was standing next to her partner Ethel. "He is the only previous elder left alive, and given the tremendous amount of treachery on the part of those three, there must be a judgment passed. Has Graeme waited so that the pack can all weigh in on it or at the very least witness the punishment that is decided?"
"There has been no discussion yet," Charlotte said. "I don’t know that Graeme has even considered it with all that is happening at the moment. Of all the past elders, Pearce is the most reasonable and level-headed. He does not pose a threat at the moment from his place within the dungeon walls. It is likely Graeme will wait until all of this is resolved to return to the subject."
"There will be a judgment," Sylvia added. "There will be some form of justice. It is just not the top priority right now."
"I wonder if the rest of the pack will agree," Agnes remarked, looking over her shoulder at the stunned faces of many of the pack members who were still reeling from all that had been revealed to them this morning.
