My Lycan Mate of Suicide Forest

"Wait… Graeme!" Greta called, watching her brother stalk back through the treehouse with the clear look of determination on his face. "Where are you going?"

"The dungeon," he growled through his teeth without looking at any of them.

This was something he needed to do right now—to face the fuckers who put his mate and his family and his entire pack in this situation. According to Greta, Sylvia, and Sam the elders had signed the pack up for unlimited future donations of their alyko to the vampire. They had also helped orchestrate his parents' murders. And they were responsible for what happened tonight.

"But… but Selah…" Greta stuttered, reaching after him without any real conviction. If he had made up his mind, there was no stopping him.

"I'll go with him," Sam reassured her, grabbing her outstretched hand and kissing it to earn a soft smile from her. He did the same to his mother's hands before jogging off to catch up with his Alpha.

"Be careful!" Greta called belatedly, watching the empty doorway where her mate and brother had disappeared.

After staring at the void that was left in the males' absence, Greta turned to Sylvia and released a heavy exhale.

"Why is this happening?" she asked.

"We can't know, can we?" Sylvia replied, walking over to the sofa and sitting down. "But we have to trust that somehow it will come out better in the end for all of us."

"But he is so broken right now," she whimpered, shoulders sagging as she joined Sylvia on the sofa.

Sylvia put an arm around Greta and let the girl who was like a daughter to her rest her head on her shoulder.

"It's going to be okay, hon," she said softly, squeezing Greta against her. "We are going to figure this out."

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Graeme stormed into the dungeon, using all of his senses on the way to avoid any pack members who were still out wandering around. Sam was following closely the whole way, but Graeme ignored him. He didn't want to talk. He wasn't in the mood. They had all talked so much already, and he couldn't take any more knowledge without action. Someone had to pay. Someone had to pay for all of this.

As soon as they entered the dungeon, Graeme heard Andreas snarling and banging against his cell door. Obviously the elder wasn't in the talking mood either. He sounded feral—like a wolf that needed to be put down.

"Graeme, maybe we should wait," Sam tried from behind him.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Sam?" he growled back, continuing his way to the elder's cell. When he finally arrived in front of Andreas' door, Graeme's lips were curled up over his teeth in a snarl, he was so enraged.

He gave Sam a warning look, and after Sam handed him the key, he stood back, allowing the Alpha to carry out his plan. He would just remain there as backup if it became necessary. And as formidable as Graeme was, it sounded like he might need help after all—Andreas was clearly not himself.

Graeme pulled open the door, allowing Andreas to spill out into the hallway where he landed on all fours. But instead of attacking Graeme, he sprang up and tore down the hall in the opposite direction. Graeme took off in chase, leaping after the elder and landing on top of him, smashing his skull against the stone floor and shattering his cheekbone in the process.

Graeme heard the crunch of the bone and expected Andreas to react with howls of pain, but the elder was still trying to pull himself up, his bloody, broken nails clawing against the stone floor as if he could feel none of the pain that he should be in. Graeme snarled, lowering himself threateningly over Andreas' immobilized head and baring his teeth.

This was the male who was responsible for all of the loss Graeme had suffered over the years, and it had persisted up to this very moment. The pack was on the verge of losing its leadership once again, but even more than that—they were on the verge of losing that precious hope that they had finally regained.

Being this close to him, Graeme could see the healing burns from when Andreas had walked into the fire earlier in the night. Sam and Greta told him he had pulled the elder out of the flames and ordered him locked up. Why? Why had he been compelled to show this bastard any mercy?

The faces of his mom and dad flashed in his mind—their smiling, loving expressions on the day they left and never returned. It was supposed to be a routine trip off of pack land, but it had ended in an ambush. And then Graeme and his sister watched as Maggie and every other alyko was dragged away, held responsible for the tragedy while becoming one themselves.

Graeme had heard the alyko screaming while those flames engulfed the cottage. Those screams haunted him. Those screams were not faked.

"You want to burn?" Graeme snarled, spit dripping from his mouth into Andreas' eye and onto his cheek. The elder just blinked and snarled back. "Then go burn."

He stood from where he had landed on Andreas' back and watched as the old male pushed himself up and ran as if he hadn't even been deterred. Graeme watched him go, a satisfying flame of hatred sizzling through his chest and down his limbs, sparking at his fingers that curled involuntarily with the sensation. And then he followed, taking his time stalking after Andreas who had made his way out of the dungeon and into the yard behind the pack house.

Graeme got to the doorway just as Andreas launched himself onto the flames of the pure fire that was still burning strong. No one remained out back to see it. Only Graeme and his Beta who appeared in the doorway behind him stared on while Andreas charred and blistered and finally caught fire, becoming one with the ceremonious flames.

"One to go," Graeme growled and turned back toward the dungeon.