Chapter 401: Greater Mystery
"When will they be released?" Penelope asked, finding her voice again after Zagan had moved away and back to the other side of his desk.
Her eyes darted once again to the map that was now flat black on the wall with no little lights twinkling to give away the locations of the alyko across the globe. Was he really just going to end his whole operation? Just like that? All of that work tagging the alyko and coordinating with packs around the world... and he was just going to unplug it from the wall?
"When Seth returns, he will take care of it. Didn’t you hear me on the phone?" he asked patiently, sitting down to return to whatever papers were waiting for him there. What could an ancient creature such as himself need to keep busy doing that required paperwork?
"How long will that be until he returns?" she asked quietly, still not believing this could be accomplished so easily. All she had to do was ask? All she had to do was... offer herself in their stead?
Her heart started racing as she considered what it was she had just done. She didn’t regret it, but... was she really going to be the exclusive blood donor for a vampire? Was she really going to have to go through the aftermath of that again?
Zagan’s eyes slid to hers as he heard her start panicking.
"You should rest," he suggested, trying to distract himself from the quiver of her lips and her soft exhales and the subtle rise and fall of her chest and the steady, increasing call of her heart. Why did she make him ache for her in a completely unfamiliar way that had nothing to do with blood? "You should also go turn off the water before we run out," his lips twitched into a small smile as he stared hard at the paper in his hands.
"The water?" she repeated, recalling the water she turned on in the bathroom before she answered the bedroom door. "But August can turn it off..." she said, her heart skipping with the lie.
"We both know the Luna is not in that room," he said, glancing up at her with his black eyes. There was a playfulness there she hadn’t noticed before. At least he wasn’t angry. "That is what you were trying so hard not to tell me, was it not?"
Well, that and the fact that August was pregnant, she thought. He still didn’t know that part, and there was no way she could let him find out.
"Yes," she said in a small voice.
"Go rest, Penelope. I took a lot of your blood. You need to rest. I will make sure Brandt keeps an eye out for the Luna and she is returned safely," he assured her.
"I... Okay," she agreed, making her way slowly to the door. "Will you let me know when they have been set free?"
"Yes," he sighed, pausing whatever he was writing now to glance at her once again. "Do you wish for them to know that you are the reason they are getting their freedom?"
"What? No," she replied, startled by the suggestion. She didn’t need any recognition. That’s not why she was making this deal. "I am not the sole reason anyway—August will be able to give you what you want, so there is no need for any other alyko to be kept. Right?"
He stared at her for several moments, holding her gaze as he considered denying it. He wasn’t concerned about the Luna anymore. She was powerful—clearly. She had healed her mate before his very eyes. It was nothing like he had ever seen before. And then she had sent most of the alyko on this island away without even trying. He felt the shock wave that nearly knocked him off of his feet in its wake before he turned to see that his dear Zosime had vanished.
Perhaps the Luna truly was close enough to the fae to be considered one. There were a great deal of possibilities that Zagan would have previously been excited to investigate regarding her abilities, but now... Now the one in front of him held the greater mystery.
Penelope had started his heart beating. Penelope’s blood called to him like nothing he had ever experienced. But there was more. He could feel that there was more to this Winter before him, and he couldn’t deny her request to free the rest if it meant seeing the way it made her light up.
He had never made anyone light up like that before. He had never been the cause of someone else’s hope or joy. He was always the one to drain the light and hope from those who were living, taking a portion of it for himself.
"That’s right, the Luna can give me what I want," he agreed with Penelope’s statement, avoiding speaking the truth. He didn’t know how Penelope would react if he admitted that she was the one who was likely capable of killing him because, based on the evidence, she was very likely his mate.
"Thank you," she said, biting her lip as she paused at the door. "You surprise me. I did not imagine you would be so agreeable."
"I am hardly agreeable, Miss Winter," he chuckled and looked back down at his notes. "I would walk you to your room, but it seems that you are now capable of opening the doors on your own," he smirked at the paper on his desk and glanced up at her long enough to see her lips curve into an embarrassed smile.
"I would have figured it out sooner if you were not always following me, offering to do it," she replied, teasing him with a false scowl.
"Forgive me. I will leave you to open them from now on then. I guess you surprise me, too," he offered, a genuine smile brightening his dark features, making him look almost human.
Penelope’s heart stuttered in her chest at how handsome he suddenly seemed looking at her like that, and Zagan heard it.
