Chapter 524: Rest, Moon
"Well you know where to find us if you need us," August smiled and squeezed Penelope’s hands.
’Don’t need us,’ Graeme told Zagan wordlessly, sending the comment into his mind and knocking him back a step.
Zagan’s eyes went wide in surprise, but he nodded. Graeme was making it clear that he didn’t expect to hear from Zagan again. He may be letting him live—he may be deferring to his mate’s good will and forgiveness—but that didn’t mean he wanted to be friends. And he certainly did not want his pack to ever end up in a situation in which Zagan requested their help. The vampire had done enough.
Penelope and August hugged and then Nedra and Penelope did as well. The three of them had accomplished something unheard of together, and there was a bond between them from that. It wasn’t easily explained, but it was there. Life had been called into being by the three of them like a spiritual sisterhood of La Loba.
"I’m happy that you have a pack to call home," Penelope smiled as she hugged Nedra.
"I’m happy that you have a mate to call home," Nedra chuckled softly and gave Penelope one last squeeze.
"Thank you for helping make sure that I do," Penelope said, her eyes beginning to water when she thought of everything they had been through together in such a short time.
Nedra and August had helped heal Zagan even when Nedra did not want to. But she did it. And she had healed and grown from it as well.
"I can’t wait to show you the pack house!" Sage exclaimed from where he was sitting on Seth’s shoulders.
Selah laughed next to them. Her brother was so happy. She had never seen him this happy and animated before. He didn’t have any trouble accepting the parents whom he had been separated from since birth. It’s as if he had known them already in his heart, and this was simply a reunion of souls rather than an awkward introduction of people previously unknown.
"I can’t wait either, buddy," Seth said, glancing at Graeme with a smile.
"Right, let’s go," August sighed, happy to finally be leaving. She opened the portal the way Nedra had taught her and then paused. "What happens to the island after we leave?"
"When Zagan and Penelope are gone, I’ll let it go," she said.
"Let it go?" August asked. "It’s as simple as that?"
Nedra shrugged. "Yes. It will be a relief. It’s something that I have been sustaining for so long."
"But... Brandt and Emmett..." August frowned, wondering what would happen to the two males who Seth and Zagan had buried in the earth of the island. If it collapsed in on itself or disappeared, what would happen to their remains?
"They’ll be okay," Nedra reassured her. "They will remained folded into the earth. Just not here."
August shook her head, not understanding. But she trusted Nedra with it. It was her incredible enchantment that had created this place, and she knew how it worked.
"Allow me to carry you over the threshold, my love," Graeme said, scooping August up in his arms.
"Graeme, your ribs!" She objected, a soft gasp escaping her lips.
"They are practically healed," his teasing, possessive growl puttered softly against her, making a thrill of their shared electricity shoot through her to her toes. Her cheeks went pink, and he hummed in appreciation. "I can still make you blush."
She groaned and buried her head in his shoulder, and then the overwhelming comfort of his warmth and protection started to make her head fuzzy. It was as if she finally realized the safety of being home, and her body let the exhaustion come.
Graeme felt her body relax and the deep, relieved breaths of exhaustion release as she melted into him. It reminded him of when she had become so tired in the sunflower field that first day that she could barely keep her eyes open, and he had carried her back to the treehouse asleep in his arms.
"Rest, Moon. I’ve got you," he kissed her head and felt her accept with a small tired smile against his chest.
August had finished what she set out to do, and it was so much. In the council chambers and now here... one miracle after another. She used to become exhausted immediately after doing something miraculous—like when she healed Greta. It was surprising that her strength had held out for this long.
"Don’t let her go to that place," Nedra said softly next him, realizing that August was quickly falling asleep. She knew that kind of exhaustion. She had been there—every time she created something difficult on this island.
August’s forehead feathered at the sound of Nedra’s voice, but her eyes remained closed. She was too tired to fight the rest that Graeme offered.
"Why?" He frowned, glancing back down at his mate.
"She has spent too much time there. I’m afraid she will pass into their world," Nedra said, gesturing to the design on August’s arm. "I’ve never seen anything like it."
"That can happen?"
"I believe it can. And her arm is the evidence of it," Nedra said quietly.
"Does this mean she has already been there?"
Nedra sighed. "I don’t know. But something happened there the last time she went. She doesn’t seem to remember, but I think she is channeling them or tapping into their knowledge. Some of the things she did, particularly when she was speaking with the vampire... that is the only explanation I can think of."
"She knew his name," Graeme recalled.
"Yes, but even before that... when she first spoke with him here. It was like someone else was speaking through her. She sounded different. I wonder if she even realizes it. The way that creature responded to her was like he recognized her. Like he knew her. That wasn’t her alone."
Graeme nestled her closer to him, an unease flickering to life in his chest. They couldn’t need the healing portal anymore. He didn’t want to risk losing her to the fae realm if that were possible.
"Don’t worry about it. I just wanted you aware of it in case," Nedra said next to him.
"She’ll be okay, Alpha," Sage’s sweet voice reassured him from Seth’s shoulders. "Let’s go home."
"Right," Graeme smiled. "Let’s go home."
Without even a second glance back at the island or at Zagan and Penelope, Graeme led the way through the portal with his sleeping mate in his arms.
