"How do I kill him?" August asked with a grimace, the nausea still eating away at her stomach as she imagined following through with this decision to leave Grae. But she would do it to protect her mate. She would do anything to protect him.
"I don't know how," Penelope shook her regretfully. "But if it can be done, you are the one to do it."
"What?" August chuckled in disbelief. "Why just ?"
"Genetically, you are the closest to a fae that any alyko has been. At least, that is my belief. And it is only a fae that can kill him."
"Why is that? Why a fae?" August's eyes went wide.
"You know the story of La Loba?" Penelope asked her, eyebrows raised, white dreadlocks shining in the moonlight. If August didn't know better, she would say Penelope was fae with how petite and ethereal she appeared out here under the full moon. "The fae who created the first lycan?"
"Yes," August replied softly. It was the story Charlotte had told her, Greta, and Sylvia with such reverence as if it were a sacred oral history passed through generations. And if it were true, that is precisely what it was.
"La Loba had the unique ability to breathe life into sothing that had lost it. She did this over and over again with different desert animals whose bones she would lovingly collect—those who she feared would be lost to the world for good if they were not brought back. It just so happened that one night on a full moon just like tonight, the Moon Goddess aided her in this when she sang a female wolf back into being," Penelope told her, reminding August of the key points.
"The ancient one who collects the alyko," Penelope's voice got lower and she looked around uneasily as if she were waiting for him to spring from the shadows at any mont, "he is the only one I know of in our world. He is not living, August. He needs a fae like La Loba to breathe life back into him. That is the only way he will be able to truly die. That is the only way he can be killed."
"He needs to be given life in order for it to be taken away?" August whispered the question to herself, her eyes squinting as she thought it over.
"Yes. Otherwise he is trapped—endlessly suspended sowhere between life and death, unable to attain either," Penelope explained.
"But I don't understand. How is that possible? How did he beco like that?" August shook her head, not understanding. How could he be neither living or dead?
"I do not know the answer to that question. It is truly a mystery. Perhaps when you go with him, you will learn of it. But what is more important than how he beca that way is how you will give him the life he does not have," Penelope said in a hushed voice, eyes continually darting around.
"So I am supposed to be able to do what La Loba did? The one who created the lycans?" August scoffed.
"Yes. That is the goal," Penelope replied.
"That's not possible, Penelope! I'm just… ! I'm not La Loba. I'm not powerful like that," she argued. "Has anyone ever even seen La Loba? How do they know she was real?"
"August," Penelope grabbed the girl's hands, making her focus on the deep sincerity in her eyes, "I believe you are that powerful. You just haven't realized it yet. You have only been like this for a short ti. There are abilities you will have that you will need to learn how to wield."
Penelope took a deep breath, her eyes welling with emotion as August listened, stunned into silence.
"This is why I was involved with the pandemic research in the first place. I would never help those human researchers if it wasn't for this very important reason. Don't you see? You could help save all alyko from this monster. If he dies, no alyko gets taken. No alyko gets enslaved. We will finally be free from him. You are the one hope we have right now. We need you."
August wet her lips, the gravity of this responsibility sinking in as she recognized the desperation in Penelope's eyes.
"How long will it take?" she asked with a tremulous voice. How long would she be away from Grae?
"I can't answer that," Penelope dropped her hands and offered August a regretful look. "I don't know how long. It depends on your abilities. It depends on how long it takes to learn how to use them. It depends on a lot of things."
"Will Grae… will he be okay?" August wrapped her arms around herself. "Will he wait for ?"
"He would wait for you until the end of ti, dear girl. You are his soul's mate," she replied. "He will be heartbroken, just as you will be. But he will have his leadership here to keep him anchored. And he will look for you. He will search for you. That will keep him busy."
"Will it put him in danger?" August's eyebrows pinched together, concerned as to the lengths that he would go to find her. "Will he find before it is ti? Before I kill the vampire?"
"It will not be possible for him to find you, I'm afraid. Once the alyko are gone, they are not found again," Penelope told her.
"But Livvy!" August exclaid, throwing her arm out as if it were pointing to the pack house, when in reality she didn't know where the pack house was from this mysterious location she had arrived upon. "Our pup who was taken! She was just returned tonight."
Penelope frowned in disbelief. "That can't be true. None have ever co back."
August sighed deeply. "Well she did. So it must be possible."
"Either way," Penelope said quickly, "you must go. If there is a chance Grae may find you, then hopefully you can complete your task of killing the creature before he does."
"No pressure," August grumbled. "How do I find the vampire now?" she asked, her teeth beginning to chatter with nerves. She was really going to do this. It was really going to happen.
"He will find you," Penelope told her. "Or, I suppose, you could say his na. But he might be angry."
"Okay," August swallowed, nodding her head as the trembles migrated from her teeth throughout the rest of her body.
"I have to leave before he cos," Penelope told her.
"I understand," August said.
"Will you be okay?" Penelope asked, noticing how nervous August had beco.
"No," August said honestly before allowing a small chuckle to escape. "Go. I will be fine."
Penelope gave her one last lingering look before she turned and darted back into the trees from where she had erged.
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