Chapter 55: Link

Sam was leaning against the windowed wall leading out to the deck, studying August from afar. She somehow managed to appear relatively unscathed, unlike how he had found Marius.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

August readjusted the blanket around her as she sat on the sofa opposite him. "No," letting out a deep breath. "Thanks to you," she gave him a smile. "Did you call Graeme?" She shuddered thinking of how furious Graeme would be. He was going to blame himself again, she just knew it. She dreaded seeing that guilt in him, and she could only hope he wouldn't react the way she was anticipating.

"He can't know yet," he gave her an apologetic look. "If he rushes out of the council, they'll know something is wrong. We don't need anyone blaming you two for his death."

"Won't they know anyway?"

He shook his head calmly. "Marius masked his scent, so there's no tracing him here."

"How did you know he was here?"

"When we were leaving, I picked up a scent. It's hard to explain, but masking your scent is incredibly difficult. Very few are capable of it. And there's a… a residue left behind," he explained. "I should have realized it immediately. I'm sorry."

"Please don't apologize. I'm so grateful. I-I can't even believe you showed up. How was he even able to come here?" she mumbled the question, squinting against the sunlight cutting into the room like broken shards of glass.

"I don't understand that part," Sam agreed. "I expected to find him pacing around the tree."

"Maybe Greta will have some ideas," she suggested, and Sam smiled at this.

As if summoning her by name alone, Greta burst through the door and ran to find Sam and August in the living room. She gave her mate a worried look, but finding him in his usual relaxed state, she rushed to August on the couch.

"What happened? Did he hurt you?" Greta grabbed August's shoulders and pulled her gently into a hug. Feeling Greta's embrace dissolved the tension she didn't realize had been stored up in her body, and August felt herself slowly fall apart in Greta's arms. Greta held her tighter, letting her take the time she needed to release the tears that hadn't yet fallen.

"I'm sorry," August finally said, pulling back and wiping the tears from her face even though more were silently pooling in her eyes, and she only wished for once she could keep them at bay rather than appear weak. Her head hurt from the times Marius had slammed it against the wall, and the gathering of her tears was only making it ache more.

"I have a rule you need to know about, August, and that's no apologizing for crying," she said quietly. "You were just attacked by that psychopath again. Crying helps."

"H-he said that he had some link with me," August's face pinched together feeling more tears rushing up. "That he knew when I woke up and even my feelings for Graeme," she sniffled, wiping more tears away, but they kept falling.

"Hmm… a link with you. That may be how he was able to come here without an issue," she thought aloud.

"He said I killed his wolf," she sputtered out. "How could I have done that?" August's face looked desperately at Greta for answers. Even though it was Marius, the thought of her being responsible for something like that was horrifying.

Hearing this, Greta looked over at Sam who was still standing against the window. "He mentioned it to me, too," Sam said. "He didn't shift to defend himself."

"Do the elders know?" August heard the sudden panic in Greta's voice.

"I imagine he was too ashamed to tell anyone," Sam offered. "He said if I took him to the council, he would tell them." Greta breathed a sigh of relief at this.

"Was it just because I bit him?" August looked worriedly at Greta who looked back at her without any answers. She didn't know how it was possible. Something like that was unheard of. The alyko were born without a wolf, but that was a heritable trait.

"Want to hear my theory?" both girls looked over to where Sam's deep voice spoke calmly from the window. "It has to do with Graeme," he said.

"What do you mean?" Greta asked, shifting on the sofa to face him.

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"You said it was Graeme's energy she used that day," he said simply.

Greta let her eyes wander past her mate and out into the trees that swayed in the noon sun. "And he's Alpha," she whispered to herself.

"It's not a power he has on his own, but maybe together…" Sam shrugged.

A small measure of relief bloomed in August's mind at this theory, and she found herself comforted at the thought that maybe, just maybe, she had simply been delivering Graeme's will as pack leader. The responsibility did not rest on her alone. She could accept that. Greta saw the relief on August's face as the girl sighed, and she squeezed her arm reassuringly.

"I like that theory," Greta agreed. "The elders will wonder about Marius' disappearance," she looked at Sam. "What's your plan?"

"Just behave like normal," he shrugged. "He didn't leave his scent behind to follow, so he basically took care of it for us." Greta hoped he was right. "He wasn't himself. If he's been acting like that this whole time, the elders might think he took off anyway."

"Do you need anything, August? Are you sure you're not hurt?" Greta asked again before adding, "You are the most important person to my brother right now. I expect you to be honest with me." Greta gave her a pointed look that made August feel as if she were being accused of something.

"I guess he slammed my head against the wall pretty hard," she said quietly, "but he was aiming for worse. I feel really lucky."

"His face was scratched to hell," Sam remarked, giving Greta a meaningful look.

Greta pulled August's arms forward to examine her trembling hands when she noticed the broken nails and dark bruises that had started to appear on the girl's wrists. "Bastard," Greta mumbled to herself. "Any headache or dizziness?" she asked, looking closer at August's eyes. The gold that had taken to shimmer there often deflected light, and Greta hadn't noticed anything unusual about them.

"It's tolerable," August responded.

"What's tolerable? You have a headache?" Greta asked for August to nod. "One of your pupils is bigger than the other. You have a concussion."

"But that's not that big of a deal, right?" August asked quickly. "Can we not mention it to Graeme?" Greta gave her a questioning look for August to add, "He gave me his word Marius wouldn't touch me again," she looked down into her hands. "He's going to beat himself up over it."

"He's a big boy. He'll be fine," Greta replied, perhaps too sharply.

"It just seems that things like this keep happening. I don't want to be the weak human anymore. I can handle a concussion," she argued.

"You fought Marius off twice," Sam's eyebrows were raised at her, and she shifted her eyes to him, squinting against the sun as she did. "You're in no way weak."

"Yeah, I climbed a tree," August laughed softly to herself. "The abilities were gone," she looked at Greta.

"You got away, August. That would be hard for anyone, even a lycan. Don't be ashamed of it," Greta added. "As far as the abilities go, you're still figuring it all out. It takes time."

August looked intently at her hands, trying to steady them. Trying to will whatever involuntary reaction to the whole event left her still shaking. "I think I'm going to lie down," August said quietly. "I can't thank you both enough," she hugged Greta and walked to where Sam hadn't moved. "Sam, I… I'd be in a much different state right now if you hadn't shown up. Thank you," she smiled, reaching through the blanket that was wrapped around her to squeeze his arm lightly.

"I'm glad you're okay," he met her smile with his own.

"We're not going anywhere," Greta said behind her. "We'll be right here if you need us, okay?"

"Thanks guys," August replied quietly, passing through the doorway into the bedroom.

Greta watched the doorway where the girl disappeared before crossing the room to where Sam was, reaching up to embrace him and let out a long sigh. He lifted her up into his arms where she buried her face in his shoulder.. "Don't ever run off like that again, please," she spoke softly into his ear.

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