My Lycan Mate of Suicide Forest

Chapter 322 - The Returned

When Greta and Sylvia arrived, Selah was speaking quietly to what appeared to be five females—three pups and two adults—while Jack stood to the side, looking on. A shiver of familiarity ran through Greta as she scented the females first.

Sylvia froze in her tracks. "Camila?" she whispered. "Elsie?"

The two adult females turned when they heard their names.

"Sylvia?" One of them answered with a gasp.

Sylvia sputtered a laugh, and then Greta watched as the elder ran forward, sobs overtaking her as she embraced the females that she recognized.

"Goddess, how… how are you here? And you look exactly the same!" Sylvia laughed between sobs.

"Is Charlotte here? Is she okay?" One of the females asked. She had long dark hair that was graying at the roots and the same beautiful mahogany skin as Charlotte.

"Yes," Sylvia answered. "She is okay. I can't believe it. Look at all of you!" She squatted down to get a closer look at the pups who were trembling in the center of everyone.

"Let's get you somewhere warm," Sylvia said, standing and glancing back at Greta who still remained motionless, staring on in disbelief.

These females were their alyko. She recognized the pups who were around her and Graeme's age when they were taken. She hadn't known them well, as they were from other areas of the pack land, but she recognized them alright. And they were… the same age. How was that possible? It was as if no time had gone by.

"Oh, uh… yes. The pack house?" Greta asked, having trouble thinking straight at the shock of this unexpected arrival.

Had August somehow done this? Greta couldn't imagine how…

Just then she sensed her mate close by, and shortly after he and Graeme ran out of the trees. She caught Sam's eyes as he appeared. He was scanning her from afar to make sure she was all right, but she couldn't bring herself to give him the reassuring smile that she usually did. She was too shocked. This didn't feel real.

His eyebrows pinched together at her dazed expression, and then he caught sight of the alyko further ahead of them. His jog toward them all slowed to a walk, and then he froze in his tracks. She could see the moment it occurred to him who they were.

Graeme passed him, striding forward to take in the faces and scents of those whom he recognized. She finally walked forward to join them, overcoming the initial shock that had immobilized her.

"It is as if no time has gone by," Graeme marveled with his mouth agape, embracing the females who were just as surprised as everyone else to be back on their home turf.

"Graeme? You have grown!" One of the females exclaimed—the one who looked like Charlotte. "Are you Alpha now?"

Greta and Sylvia giggled, and Graeme glanced at them with a flash of uncertainty before answering. "I am," he said with a crooked smile.

"How did you arrive here?" Greta asked, reaching to reassure one of the trembling pups as she glanced Selah's way. Selah was standing to the side, quietly watching the reunion.

"We don't know. We were wondering the same thing. One minute we were in our rooms, and the next, we were here," one of the adult females answered.

"Do you remember Camila and Elsie?" Sylvia asked, looking back at the others. "Camila is Charlotte's sister."

"Of course," Graeme answered without missing a beat. He recalled all of their faces. They were etched into his mind, replaying in a nightmarish loop from the day when they were dragged away. "We thought you were all killed. We should have looked for you…" his voice faltered, and he cleared it.

"How could you have known?" Camila offered him a soft smile, recalling that same day when their deaths had been staged and they had been taken by the vampire's group of lycans.

"Well let's get you somewhere out of the cold," Greta offered, pulling two of the pups into her sides where they naturally seemed to gravitate. It was not unusual for others, particularly pups, to react to her presence that way. Her healing aura had a calming effect for those who were in distress.

"We were thinking the pack house," Sylvia told Graeme who nodded his approval, and Sylvia began walking that way with Camila and Elsie, her arms threaded through theirs as Greta followed closely behind with the pups and Sam at her side.

Graeme hung back and watched them, the magic of this moment seemingly glittering along with the light from Samhain's full moon. It was hard to believe—indeed, it was a scene he never would have imagined possible. The alyko who everyone had watched led to their deaths—the alyko whose screams he had heard as they were seemingly engulfed in flames—they were alive. They were here.

Was it possible his mate had something to do with this? Was she truly that powerful?

And one other question nagged at him, but he was reluctant to ask it aloud for fear of the answer. Why was Maggie not amongst those who had returned?

"I can't believe it," Selah exclaimed beside him, tugging him out of his thoughts. "Nothing like this has ever happened before. August must have done something, but I can't even imagine what that would be. It was hard enough getting one of them out, but this is just… extraordinary. And to have them returned here directly? Transported to the very place where they were taken? It should not be possible."

"You must be Selah," he replied simply, beginning to walk in the direction the others were headed.

While he was not entirely comfortable with the idea of being Alpha, he was going to use that authority to make sure these females were put in the most comfortable, secure rooms available at the pack house. They would be cared for and guarded 24/7 now that they were back. At least there was no fear now of Andreas getting loose and scheming to have them returned.

"I am Selah, yes," the female next to him confirmed.

"Then we have a lot to discuss," he said.