My Lycan Mate of Suicide Forest

"I can't tell the future," Penelope said softly. "So I don't know. We all live with some risk of being harmed," she smiled sadly.

"The reason why you have chosen to help create a purer form of fae," he said sharply, realizing that she was avoiding a direct answer. "That is what I am asking about, Penelope. Is it with the intention of some kind of harm to her?"

"No, of course not. I would never do that," she shook her head and backed away from him. "No alyko would do that. It's just… I'm sorry, it's not something I can tell you."

She looked at him with those eyebrows threaded that spoke of how much weighed on her, but he didn't know if it was guilt for not being able to reveal more information or for something else that involved August.

"One other thing I can say, though," she started and bit her lip for a moment before her expression cleared, "is that you must trust her to be strong when you fear she is not." She sighed heavily. "I wish there was more I could give you. But know that the Goddess is in this. There is purpose for me, and there is purpose for you—just as there is purpose for August. When in doubt, you must remember that, Graeme Hallowell."

He looked at her uneasily as she offered him a warm, reassuring smile.

"So you are here to erase the traces of her?" he asked, giving up on learning more. "Her mother has truly forgotten her?"

Graeme thought about that little red dot on his phone, moving steadily back from to her home. Did she really have no recollection of the reason she had gone to Maine? Could a mother really be made to forget her child?

Penelope nodded slowly, an apology evident in her eyes.

Graeme turned away from her, looking at the room that was his mate's. August was going to be devastated, and his heart was already breaking for her. How was he supposed to tell her about this? It would be like giving her the news that her mother had passed on, except… except perhaps this was worse. Her mother could actually be made to forget her.

"Can I take it with me?" he asked softly, swallowing back the hurt for his mate that was slowly climbing in his throat.

"Of course. You can take whatever you wish, but I will have to dispose of the rest."

"Are you going to tell Eliade where she is?" he turned and scrutinized her.

"No," she replied. "No, like I said—I only care that she is safe, and she could not be safer than where she is with you. I was trying to figure out how to keep her away from Eliade, actually." A smile alighted on her face. "Will she be Luna, then?" her head tilted to the side.

He smiled at the title and at imagining August in the role. "We're working on that. Pack stuff is a little complicated right now with my leaving at a young age and now returning… but I have every intention of restoring my pack. They have suffered in my absence it seems," he grimaced and looked at his feet.

"There was so much at work during that time that had nothing to do with you," she said. "Do not blame yourself for someone else taking your legs out from under you when you were too young to even know what was happening."

"Do you know what happened with my pack? Do you know who was responsible for my parents' murders?" he glanced up at her in surprise. It seemed Penelope knew much.

She sighed and backed away from him, studying him for several moments before she spoke again. "Only because of the position you are in right now do I think it best that I not give you more than you already know. What you are doing now—the path that you are on—will bring you all the answers that you need. And you and August will be strong enough to deal with it when the time comes."

He stared at her in disbelief. "You know, and yet you will not tell me!"

"Alpha," she protested with her hands up, "it is for your own good and for the ease with which things must happen, which is in their own time. You will have your answers, and you will have your pack."

"I thought you said you couldn't tell the future," he growled, and she chuckled.

"I merely speak as someone who sees the Moon Mother working in you and in this situation. And She is telling me to keep my mouth shut."

Graeme huffed in exasperation.

"We don't have all night. If there are things you wish to keep for her, you must gather them now," she urged, realizing the position of the sun outside the window. "That man will be returning soon, and he has no recollection of her. He can't see these things."

Graeme gave a small, puttering growl in his throat at being denied such vital information from someone who seemed to have all the answers, but he turned and evaluated the room for what August might want.

"I will go find a box," Penelope suggested and left him to start gathering the pieces of his mate's former life to take back home to her.

When Penelope returned, Graeme had the blanket and pillow from her bed, a stuffed bear he found hidden in her desk, and all the photos and lights from her wall. The rest of her things had probably been taken to Eliade with her, and it was unlikely they would ever be able to retrieve those.

"I wanted to talk to you because there is something troubling going on in my council, but because of how much you know about… everything," he chuckled sardonically, "you are probably already aware of it."

"What is it?" Penelope asked as she began to gather the rest of what needed to be removed.

"The map tracking the alyko," he said and glanced at her.

"Oh," he heard her say. "Yes, I do know of it."

"Do you know the method that allows them to track you? Is it reversible?" he asked.

"It is not reversible, no. And it's been given to everyone—not only alyko. It's just that it only works to track alyko, because of how the fae part of us interacts with the elements in our surroundings."

"So lycans have been tagged for this tracking as well?" he asked, mouth agape. He wasn't sure why he was surprised.

"Yes. They put it in the water. All it takes is a certain volume of water, and then it stays with you.. Tagged for life," she looked up at him with a sad expression.