Chapter 510: Betrayed
"I’m so relieved you’re back," Graeme breathed against her shoulder. "I haven’t been sleeping. I haven’t been..." he broke off his train of thought. He was talking about himself and his feelings while his pregnant mate was sitting here, supportive and forgiving and way too patient with him.
Plus, she had just led them all through bringing back two dead pack members. They were talking about what had happened here while she was gone, but he hadn’t even asked about her... the one who had been off fighting a vampire. What was wrong with him?
"What is it?" She ventured into his silence.
"Goddess, I’m selfish," he said, cupping her face and her hair and running his hands down her arms. "How are you, Little Red? What happened? What happened with the vampire?"
August took a deep, slow breath in. "I don’t know where to start. He’s... alive."
"Wait, he’s... he’s alive? Like alive alive? With a beating heart?"
"Yes, alive alive," August chuckled softly.
"You did it. You found a way to kill him by giving him life. Just like today. Goddess..." he whispered in awe.
It was hard to comprehend all that his mate was capable of. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, if he hadn’t been there to experience what had happened today, there was no way he would believe it himself.
"Not exactly," she said, exhaling.
How was she going to explain this in a suitable way that Graeme would understand? Zagan was responsible for so much, and it truly wasn’t August’s place to forgive him on behalf of the entire pack. He had wronged the people here in countless ways. Graeme and Greta’s parents were dead. The alyko had been taken and kidnapped repeatedly, and Zagan had kept them imprisoned.
Was it even August’s place to make a decision about whether he should be able to continue living? What if this was a deal-breaker for Graeme? What if he insisted on Zagan being sentenced to death after all? Could she support it? Could she stand by and let Graeme do it when she saw how Zagan had changed?
"Your thoughts are racing," Graeme said softly, taking her hand in his. "Just tell me."
August searched his eyes, trying to anticipate his reaction. She was afraid of what it might be. She didn’t want him to feel as if she betrayed him. She didn’t want him to feel that she had betrayed their pack. Because it wasn’t even that she had not killed Zagan when she had the chance. Graeme was unlikely to blame her for that. But August had literally helped save him from dying.
Zagan would have died... truly. He would have died all on his own if she wouldn’t have interfered. Instead, she and Nedra helped Penelope save him. What if Graeme saw that action as a mistake? As a betrayal?
"Moon," Graeme tried again, squeezing her hand.
"Okay," she squeezed her eyes shut. "I didn’t find a way to kill him. It wasn’t me who brought him to life. It turns out Penelope did. Penelope is his mate."
"His... mate? Penelope Winter? The Winter alyko?"
"Yes. It’s very rare for a vampire to have a mate. Apparently Zagan didn’t even realize it. But I think he was... like intuitively drawn to the alyko for that reason. Without knowing it, he was searching for her. He was obsessed with the alyko, because his mate was one," she rushed, the ideas tumbling out of her mouth. It felt true, and she wanted so badly for Graeme to understand it and believe it like she did.
"It doesn’t excuse what he did by any means, but if you can imagine being an ancient creature so miserable with your own endless existence and obsessed with a way to end it... if there were those he killed, he couldn’t really appreciate the tragedy of those deaths, because to him death is a gift. It was a gift he was denied..."
"Wait," Graeme raised a hand, needing her to slow down. Clearly she felt passionately about this situation, but it was taking him time to follow. "We are talking about Zagan? The one who plotted with the elders and killed my parents? The one who killed Finn and took you away?"
August’s face fell. He was right. Of course he was right. His parents had been killed. There was no forgiving that, was there? And Finn... Goddess, there was no way anyone would understand this.
"That’s what I thought," Graeme sighed. "You care for him... don’t you?" He scoffed and pulled away from her, his face screwing up in confusion as he buried it in his hands.
How had this happened? Graeme hadn’t wanted her to go there alone to begin with, but she had persuaded him to trust her. Penelope was the one to convince her that she—August—was likely the only one who could kill the vampire. But now... it was Penelope who was the missing link? Penelope was the vampire’s mate?
"Penelope wants to be mated to this vampire?" Graeme grumbled into his hands. "I don’t get it."
"I know. It’s so impossible to believe or understand, but... so is all of this! So is me being here with you and these abilities and this love that we have and the fact that we brought two people back from the dead. It’s all unbelievable," she said. "Even Nedra... Nedra who has been stuck there as a prisoner, serving Zagan, sacrificing her life with her children... even Nedra supports it somehow. I wish..." she trailed off miserably, shaking her head.
"I wish you could understand, but I... I don’t expect you to. I’m sorry. I hope you don’t feel betrayed," she whimpered.
"Betrayed?" He scoffed. "By you? August Moon..." he grabbed her hands again and pulled them up to run along the bristly hair of his beard before kissing her knuckles. "You went there alone. You are the bravest most selfless person I have ever met. I am gifted far beyond what I deserve to have you as a mate and as my Luna. I do not feel betrayed by you, my love. I feel blessed."
August sighed in relief and squeezed her eyes shut in gratitude.
"I don’t understand it, you’re right about that. I... I would have killed him," he growled softly, the genuine feeling of that impulse bleeding through his words. "But I suppose that is why you were meant to go and not me."
