Grae was gripped by the sudden staggering rage and anger burning his mate like wildfire, and she wasn't answering her phone. He tried reaching her twice that way before he was running out of his office on his way to find her, Sam following on his heels.
"Stay here and watch things," he turned to command his Beta before continuing on his way out.
He hadn't left his office to visit with anyone in the main area of the pack house ever since Andreas and Pearce unleashed the alyko tales from their private library, but now as he descended the stairs leading to the front entryway, concerned faces of pack mbers sped by in a blur. He didn't see them. He didn't care. But they sensed the distress of their Alpha, and they bristled with the urgency to follow and help as he passed.
When a group of males trailed him out the door and onto the lawn, he glared at them over his shoulder. "Do not follow ," he growled.
"Is it the Luna?" One male called after him. "Is it August?"
Grae whirled around and stalked back in the direction of the voice. "You dare use my mate's na?" he questioned.
He didn't know what had suddenly caused the tumultuous emotions in August, but it had set his hackles on end—had soone from the pack threatened her? Attacked her? Called her a witch again? Were they coming after her in his parents' ho?
How would he ever bring his mate and his pack together? It was the question that he had been struggling with and the reason why he had initiated this distance between himself and August—to protect her until he could figure it out.
But now, despite his effort to protect her from the brewing distrust and hatred in the pack after the map and false alyko stories beca known, sothing had apparently happened to her anyway—enough to create flas of anger in her so intense that he could feel it scalding the back of his own eyes.
"She prefers her na, does she not?" the male replied uneasily, stumbling backward as Grae advanced on him.
"How do you know this?" Grae growled the question.
"Everyone knows it, sire. From her ti with the pups and in the market. My sister speaks of her as August, forgive ," The young male ducked his head as Grae and his raging Alpha aura ca to loom over him.
This male was trembling. Was he truly concerned for his Luna? Were all of them?
"Who is your sister?" Grae asked.
"H-her na is Ana, sire. She is a vendor in the market," he answered. "She makes gelato."
That's right, August had gelato that day that they were in the market together. Grae's stance relaxed, his face softening a hair as he finally took a mont to evaluate the males who had followed him out. They all appeared truly concerned.
"I apologize for being quick to anger. Thank you for your genuine concern," he said gruffly, the wariness of the past two weeks exposing itself in lines on his forehead and around his eyes. "Please stay here. Everything will be fine," he put a hand on the young male's shoulder and forced himself to smile before he turned and continued on ho.
The concerned males had taken the edge off of his anxiety, and as Grae made his way through the woods he thought of how he had been failing them. His pack and his mate. By keeping them apart, he was failing to trust that they would find a way through all of this together.
When he got to the house, it was empty. She wasn't here. "Dammit. August where are you?"
Recalling what Penelope had told him and in light of the revelation that he had been failing in this regard to fully trust his mate like he said he would, Grae collapsed onto the sofa. He rubbed his face with one calloused hand. What was he doing? Why did he believe he needed to do this alone? Or that he could do it alone, for that matter?
He exhaled heavily and searched for his mate internally like he had when he was in Wisconsin, stroking that bond between them—calling out to her from his innermost being. From his soul.
"Are you well, my love?" he asked gruffly into the silent house.
Within an instant he received an answer. The light of reassurance sohow blood large in his chest, putting him at ease. So she was okay. It was not as urgent as he had assud it to be. He could have discerned this earlier before he tore out of the pack house, but in his mind she was already teetering on the precipice of danger just being here in his pack until he could make it safer—until he could disprove all the negative alyko bullshit of the elders'.
But he should be letting her help him in that regard by just… showing them herself. Obviously she has already touched many of them, as was evidenced by the males who had followed him out of the pack house. He would need to tuck his fear back behind his hope and trust.
Why was August letting him get away with this?
His eyebrows pinched together with the thought. She was so confident before. He was likely hurting her by how he had been keeping her at a distance. But why wasn't she fighting him on it? Did she believe she deserved it?
His heart sank. Would he ever get this right? He had to find her and apologize.
Grae rose from the couch and followed her scent out back. The trail of her slled slightly off. He had been noticing this lately, but with how distracted he was with everything else, he hadn't given it much thought. They were in a different house now sharing space with Greta and Sam. Sage was staying with Sylvia, but he was popping in regularly to visit. He had dismissed her scent difference as sothing to do with these changes.
His pace sped up as he followed her trail—the most familiar of scents sohow now turned sweeter. The scent of ho now with sothing even more alluring. As he reveled in it, a flash of protective instinct—different than the usual, more intense—shuddered through him. He froze in response to it.
Wait, was she… was his mate with child?
His mouth dropped open, tears welling as the sudden awareness lit him from within. His beautiful, neglected mate was carrying his child?
"Goddess," he groaned, tearing off through the trees in pursuit of her now for a different reason.
*****
We didn't reach our goal of averaging 100 power stones a day yet (we haven't hit it once, but I know we can!), so sadly there won't be a 4 chapter mass release this weekend, but fear not! I am doubling the mass release to 8 chapters next month once we are able to hit 100 votes a day for a week!
Thank you so much all of you for reading, voting, and supporting in your own way. I truly appreciate you!
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