My Lycan Mate of Suicide Forest

In fact, if the Alpha was on his way here, why were there not more of them coming?

While keeping an eye on the Alpha, he used his other eye to focus on the pack house where it seemed everyone was still gathered for the Samhain festivities. But they appeared to be in the front of the pack house rather than the back where they had been when he passed by earlier.

His eye narrowed in, sifting through individuals and attuning his ears to what was occurring.

A missing pup had returned? Was it the pup he had just snatched from the woods? Surely they wouldn't have discovered that one to be missing already.

That little male was a surprise. Zagan knew immediately upon spotting him that he was another alyko, although he must not have shown up on the pack's radar yet. Typically one his age would have been discovered and plans already underway to remove him. But not this one. Which meant he was either quite weak in terms of ability or… the opposite. Wise. Wise beyond his years. That would be the only other way to hide. And it may be possible… male alyko were not common. In fact, they were quite rare. Another rarity tonight, and an unexpected bonus for the harvest. How exciting.

But if it was not the male pup that the pack was celebrating, then who were they all fawning over to the extent that they hadn't noticed their Alpha tear off into the woods leaving the festivity behind?

Zagan's sharp mind thought for a moment, eye scanning the crowd. It couldn't be the same alyko pup they had taken from here a few months prior, could it? But missing pups were not exactly a common occurrence in most packs. It would be unusual for another to go missing as she had.

His second eye snapped to join the one already focused on the group of lycans, searching now for the specific pup they were all celebrating. Outrage flared through his core when he finally saw the young one at the center of their gathering. He hadn't met her yet, but he recognized her all the same. The one they called Livvy.

A male was holding her in his arms, and she was clinging to him. Young females were gathered, jumping up and down and putting their hands on her, making sure she was really there—verifying the truth of it by touch as was their nature.

Lycans were so reliant on touch in their relationships. He didn't understand it. Even the lycans in his crew. He saw how they gathered around each other, unaware that they were doing it. Unaware that they unconsciously sought solace and comfort in each others' presence.

They were a very physical, social species. It was why he couldn't get the alyko to fully turn to become one of his kind. Well, he didn't know exactly why he couldn't get them to fully turn, but he suspected this had something to do with it. It was just one part of the many mysteries surrounding the lycan-alyko species that fascinated him so.

What he needed was an alyko that was much less like their lycan counterparts. There were all kinds of variations among them, and this was part of the fun in gathering the alyko and sorting through what they could do.

The alyko already held the promise of not having mate bonds. They mated of course. But the inability to be inextricably tied to another through the deepest part of their inner selves meant they were that much further removed from their lycan relatives. That was until this mated Luna he discovered tonight. She was an outlier—only one of her kind that he had seen.

But Zagan was searching for those alyko who were even further removed than simply not having mate bonds. He was searching for the alyko who were more like the one who had made their species to begin with.

The La Loba. A fae. And not just any fae. No, not just any fae. La Loba was even special amongst her own. He still had not gotten even close to finding one like her. And now he had lost another potential one of his subjects.

He bit his lip, drawing Zoe's blood from the flesh there as he watched Livvy being welcomed and adored. It was unlikely now that he would get that one back—at least not for many years. How had this happened?

He let out an uncharacteristic sigh. Another setback. Somehow it wasn't surprising that it had come from Andreas' pack.

Zagan shifted an eye to the tall bonfire licking the darkness at the back of the pack house. They had obviously kept the elder from walking into the fire since he wasn't roasting back there yet—something that surprised him, surely the Alpha had intended Andreas for that fate if he was locked up in the dungeon cell—but no matter, Andreas would keep attempting to return himself to those flames. He would never stop. His mind was no longer his own. Zagan could have ended the old lycan himself, but as satisfying as that would have been, this was much better. The dignity of an elder falling so completely as to subject himself to the pure fire. Either the pack members would see his willingness to do it as a tacit admission to some deep seated guilt, or it would be blamed on an alyko—in this case, their Luna.

One eye shot to the surrounding dense forest once again looking for the Luna. Although she was mated, which was very strange indeed and not particularly attractive for his purposes, this alyko held promise. She had used a portal. That was rare indeed. He had only seen that ability in one other alyko over the years, and that one was the closest he had come to a true fae.

Perhaps the mate bond was not an issue.. It may create problems with the Alpha's likely persistence in seeking her after her disappearance, but if she was powerful enough to use portals, then it would be worth the trouble.