My Lycan Mate of Suicide Forest

337 How to Break the Enchantment

"What do you mean what element of nature renamed her?" Graeme asked the girl with piercing green eyes.

"How did... how did you know?" Lucas' eyebrows threaded together at the strange question from Selah that was also weirdly accurate.

"So I'm right. It's happening somehow," Selah whispered. Lucas' response was confirmation enough. "If Zoe was renamed by an element of nature, she is not just alyko, she is fae. And fae are what Zagan has been searching for. But... Zoe wasn't fae before. She couldn't have been. She would have never been able to be manipulated by Zagan in the first place if she were. That means she has changed somehow, and my guess is that all of this has something to do with your mate," Selah told Graeme.

"I don't understand how any of this is possible," Lucas mumbled.

"What was Zoe renamed?" Selah asked again.

"Neoma. She said it was the river that was repeating it when she jumped in," he replied.

"Neoma. New Moon," Graeme said, recognizing the Greek name. "I want to speak with her, too." He stood, and Sam followed suit.

"Are we agreed that she is not the same person as she was before?" Lucas asked before they all went charging toward her room.\

"I hear you, Lucas," Selah said. "But I will judge that for myself."

"Selah, before we get too distracted..." Graeme said. "How can we get rid of this memory enchantment?"

"Oh yeah," she nodded, searching her memory. "There are two ways that I know of. You can have an alyko make you a talisman that prevents and breaks other enchantments. Or, since you have a mate, you could... violate the mate bond." "What?" Sam scoffed.

"Why would that work?" Graeme frowned.

"The memory enchantment isn't deeply penetrative. It doesn't change who you are. It is directed to work on your conscious... on what you are able to consciously recall. When you have a mate who you have completed the mating process with-the marking and everything-that alters who you are on the deepest possible level. The enchantment might be able to make you consciously forget them, but that mate is still woven within the fabric of your being," she explained. "If you violate the mate bond by being intimate with someone else, it causes that deepest part of you to revolt against the betrayal, and that will snap you out of it."

"That's out of the question," he growled, causing Selah to smile.

"It usually is," she chuckled knowingly.

"How do you even know that works? How do you know any of this?" Lucas asked skeptically.

"My mother has told me a lot of stories," she replied. "The memory one is a popular enchantment, especially with the work she has done for Zagan. And the one who performs the enchantment can typically tell when it breaks."

"Really?" Sam asked, surprised. "Why would that be the case?"

"Maintaining an enchantment takes energy. When one breaks, it's like a relief for the alyko who performed it. At least, that is how my mom describes it," she explained.

"What about something like the enchantment on the Grimm? On suicide forest? That one has been going for hundreds of years," Graeme asked.

"I don't know. I will have to ask her," she replied. "But that is a good question."

"Graeme, you have a talisman. Greta had you wear it earlier for Samhain. It was the medallion your dad always used to wear. Do you remember it?" Sam asked.

"I know what you're talking about, but I obviously don't remember wearing it," he answered. "I didn't realize it was a talisman."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Apparently Maggie made it for your dad," Sam told him. "It must have fallen off at some point. Maybe when you shifted."

"You shifted when we were on the path toward the pups' haunted forest," Lucas recalled.

"Did you see it fall off of him?" Sam asked.

Lucas shook his head. "I was shifting, too. I didn't notice." "I will go search for it," Sam offered. "It can't be far. If we can find it, then we can get your memory back. Easy fix."

"Thanks, brother. We will go talk with Zoe," Graeme said. "Neoma," Lucas corrected him.

Graeme tried not to growl at being corrected by the male. "Neoma," he repeated, giving Lucas a quick glare. "Come find us afterward, Sam."

When they were closing in on the door to Neoma's room, Lucas jogged forward and knocked, calling to let her know who it was so she wouldn't be alarmed. She opened the door for them and stepped back to let Graeme and Selah walk in. Lucas came in last and glanced at her questioningly to confirm she was okay. She gave him a small smile. Her hair was dry, and she had changed into what looked like comfortable, dry clothes.

"Selah, hi," Neoma said timidly. She wasn't expecting the former member of her team to be here as well.

"Zoe," Selah acknowledged the girl in front of her. "I hear we are supposed to call you Neoma now."

Neoma glanced at Lucas and then at her feet. "Selah why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me your brother was alyko?"

Selah clenched her fists at her sides. She didn't like hearing this girl mention her brother, much less that he was alyko. They had tried to keep that information a secret for so long, she wasn't sure she could ever get used to hearing it spoken as if it were common knowledge.

"The Zosime I knew would have wanted to experiment on him," she answered. "Why would I tell her that?"

Neoma nodded, accepting the truth of the accusation. "You're right. I wish I could take back my involvement with the map, the files... with all of it," she grimaced. "I don't know what to say except that I am so... so sorry." She looked between Selah and Graeme. "I want to help get everyone back. I want to make up for what I did."