Chapter 405: That’s a Yes
"So you are going to let her offer herself in trade for August?" Lucas’ gruff voice came from the doorway. His eyes flashed with disapproval when the Alpha and Beta turned to greet him.
"Lucas, come in," Graeme waved him inside, his forehead furrowing at the emotion he felt emanating from the male who had grown so close to Neoma.
As a lycan, it was natural to be sensitive to the emotions of others. Emotions were often scented or discerned from body language, but there was something more that Graeme felt from Lucas at the moment. In fact, he had started noticing it when he was addressing the crowd outside the pack house. It was like the energy of the pack members was manifesting as a hum of static slowly becoming visible to his eyes. He didn’t focus much on it, but he realized that this was likely similar to what August had described as the Veiled. Was he starting to gain this additional sense as well?
If so, it was different than he imagined. It was more than vision—it was a palpable sense akin to touch. To see the Veiled was to feel it as well, and he began to realize just how much August would have had to adjust to something so new.
That night when he found her outside the tree house as cold as a corpse with pupils that had grown so large they swallowed her entire iris—it was terrifying. But she was seeing the world anew. And he was only seeing a fraction of that at the moment. To think she had been so immersed in the Veiled that she had seen something around his heart and been able to retrieve it...
"Well are you?" Lucas asked again, crossing his arms over his chest impatiently.
Neoma was going to be arriving at the office any minute, and he wanted to know what Graeme was planning. If Graeme was seriously considering swapping her for August, Lucas had to try talking some sense into him fast, because once Neoma heard that, she would be as good as gone. She seemed determined to do something rash to prove herself, and offering herself to the ancient blood-sucker would be the perfect opportunity.
"No, I am not going to try offering her in place of August," Graeme said calmly, his deep voice calming the spikes of tension he could see rising from around Lucas’ chest. "Not only would my Luna not accept that, it would mean that I don’t trust what she feels she has been called for. I wish to honor August’s decision... as difficult as it is to be away from her," he admitted.
Lucas let out a heavy exhale, his form visibly deflating from how large it had grown in preparation for an argument. "Thank the Goddess," he mumbled.
"You are close to Neoma," Sam observed, his eyes asking questions of Lucas that his words did not say.
"Everyone needs a friend. She has never had one," Lucas said dismissively, though he couldn’t shake the uncomfortable knot that had started to twist in his stomach when he saw Graeme’s hand on her shoulder, leading her away.
"You have surprised me, Lucas," Graeme said, grabbing his shoulder appreciatively. "Thank you for all that you have done for this pack. And for Neoma. She needs not only a friend but a family, and we will offer her that."
Lucas looked at his feet, a smile growing as he considered how she would finally feel welcomed somewhere. Everyone needed a home.
"So what did you have in mind?" Sam asked, returning to the purpose of the impending meeting.
"Yes, what did you have in mind Alpha?" a cold voice echoed from the doorway, causing all three males to turn, hackles immediately raised. This was an outsider.
Sam and Lucas shifted into their wolves immediately at the sight of the unknown male with golden eyes who was reclined against the doorframe, unperturbed by the massive snarling wolves that suddenly sprang into the room. His eyes were set on Graeme.
"And you are?" Graeme asked calmly, but his broad shoulders were square, chin tucked, eyes glaring up at the intruder who had somehow made it past their perimeter and into the pack house. That was unacceptable and a serious threat.
"Cassian," the male replied, shoving off the doorframe to stalk into the room.
"If you are here for Violet, she will not be going with you," Graeme said, the beginning of a growl puttering in his chest as his eyes tracked every movement of the male in front of him who had marked a female against her will.
Cassian smirked. "As if you could stop me, Alpha. But I am not simply here for her. It seems she will only come with me if I kill you first."
Lucas and Sam snarled a string of threats in reply and prepared themselves to lunge at the intruder if he attempted anything, but Cassian didn’t even acknowledge their presence. There was something familiar about this male, Graeme realized. It reminded him of how siblings had a similar signature—but this male reminded him of his mate.
"Do you know August?" Graeme frowned, accepting the question that arrived to him out of thin air.
Cassian’s eyebrows pinched together as if the name meant something to him, but then he shook his head. "Should I?"
"Penelope’s memory enchantment," Graeme grumbled. "Something tells me you did know her. You were at Eliade before this happened, weren’t you?"
The male glared at him, clearly unhappy that so much of his past was known to these strangers. "Eliade doesn’t matter anymore. I am here now."
"There is no excuse for marking a female against her will, Cassian—even if you are new to this world. Any male should know that," Graeme growled now, recalling how gruesome of a wound Violet was left with and the trauma that left her terrified and haunted and paranoid. This male was the reason why she believed August was involved in some conspiracy against her and the pack.
"My mark and my mate are none of your business," Cassian replied, his lips curling back over his teeth as he slowly began circling the Alpha who turned, following his every movement.
"She is a member of this pack. It is my business," Graeme countered.
"And she is also a previous lover, is she not?" Cassian’s head tilted in question, his eyes narrowing to receive the answer that Violet had already given him.
Graeme huffed a threat, impatient to carelessly be linked intimately with Violet for a second time today.
"That’s a yes," Cassian snarled and lunged toward the Alpha who had yet to shift into his wolf.
