Chapter 404: Loyalty Unquestioned
Graeme waited in his office for the others to arrive so they could discuss an upcoming strategy for helping August from afar. He stood at the window overlooking the forest that he had grown up in—the woods that he knew so well, having played and explored in them nonstop as a pup.
This was his home, and an overwhelming sense of responsibility and pride filled him to be in the position of Alpha where he could lead the pack the way he was intended to. While they were facing so much uncertainty right now, he knew that this position, this office, this mate, this pack, these woods—all of it was in alignment with a greater purpose. That purpose and path would not be without challenges or hardships, but he was meant to be right here at this moment facing these circumstances with his beautiful Luna facing a vampire in some alternate dimension.
He groaned—a noise that consumed him, rumbling down to his toes. He had willingly let August go. He had said he would trust her, so he must stick to that. But he ached for her with everything in him—every cell of his reached for her, yearning to be closer to wherever his mate was.
"Bad time?" Sam knocked on the open door before stepping into the office.
"No," Graeme turned quickly from the window. "Of course not, come in. This is your office, too."
"Well, that didn’t go as smoothly as we imagined, did it? But it certainly could have gone worse," Sam sighed, collapsing into the chair behind his desk.
"Thank you for helping with all the questions. Most of the pack seems to be handling everything remarkably well," Graeme grunted, running a hand through his beard. "Even after Violet."
"Yeah, what the fuck was she thinking?" Sam growled. "She has never been the most stable, but who knew she would try to sabotage your rule to that extent? Thank goddess for Lucas and the girls."
"I know," Graeme swallowed back the fury that wanted to resurface again as Violet’s words echoed in his mind. "I shouldn’t have been in her room last night. I left myself open for it."
"You were stumbling around trying to make sense of everything that was going on when she invited you in and started spinning her own tale. I understand," Sam replied, watching Graeme grimace at his own actions. "Don’t be so hard on yourself."
"The Alpha of a pack must be held to the highest standard," Graeme shook his head in disagreement. "It was inexcusable. I can’t imagine if August would have heard Violet’s accusations today. I couldn’t bear to feel how that would have hurt her, and that would have been on me."
"She probably would have torn Violet to pieces," Sam chuckled, swiveling in his chair. "It may have been worth it."
Graeme allowed the thought to bring the hint of a smile to his face—August fighting to defend his honor would be something to see, indeed. His female could be fierce. He had seen it himself.
"We are likely going to have a lot of questions for days to come, and we’ll need to make sure we have someone always available to receive them. Maybe we could announce that the office will be open to anyone who feels they need more clarification," he told Sam.
"We will end up with tons of people in here, and I can see that easily getting out of control. Plus, you don’t want to be stuck answering questions for days instead of helping August in whatever way we decide," Sam said.
Graeme hummed a reply. "True."
"What if we set up an area downstairs for members to gather and discuss? I’m sure Charlotte and mom would want to make themselves available. It might also be beneficial for some of the alyko to be there," Sam suggested.
"Not the pups. I want to keep all of the alyko as protected as we can—even from the pack until we can judge how they are being accepted," Graeme replied. "Do you think the females had enough rest? Maybe I shouldn’t have asked them to meet us so early. We can always have this meeting later if they need time."
"Camila and Elsie seem fine. It’s Neoma I would worry about. Lucas said she didn’t sleep last night, and her wounds are looking worse," Sam muttered.
"Greta is with her right now. Hopefully she can help," Graeme replied.
Sam was right. Neoma was looking worse, but it sounded like she had one hell of a night before she ended up back in their woods. Running to escape her old pack and then fighting for her life in the wild rapids of a mountain river definitely would aggravate her wounds.
"Hopefully some medication is all she needs. I want to formally accept her into our pack before we set out on whatever it is we will be doing," he added.
Sam’s eyebrows arched up in surprise. "You wish to formally bring her in?"
"She has proven her loyalty to us," Graeme nodded. "And she has never had a home. Not in her pack, not with Zagan, and certainly not here with Andreas. No one in our pack even knew she existed."
"I am sure she will be happy to hear that," Sam forced a smile.
Greta would not be so enthusiastic. She was still having a hard time getting over the fact that Zosime had helped end their first pregnancy, not to mention the fact that she had done the same thing to so many others and even helped plot for pups to be taken as prisoners for a vampire.
"She cannot be held responsible for the things Andreas had her doing," Graeme said, reading Sam’s hesitancy. "She was not exactly aware of her actions."
"But she was not unaware," Sam muttered. "You would think that if the innocent Neoma was in that monster Zosime somewhere, she would be fighting to get out—especially in the face of so much darkness."
"We can’t know what it was like for her," Graeme argued. "We can only judge her based on her actions and character now, and she has offered to sacrifice herself for my mate. Not just anyone would do that, Sam."
"Any pack member would," Sam said. It was true—any pack member, regardless of their feelings, would willingly sacrifice themselves for the Luna of their pack. It was a loyalty that was unquestioned.
"Exactly," Graeme replied. "Then you can understand my decision."
