My Lycan Mate of Suicide Forest

340  Sneaky n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Do you want to wear it to get out of the room?" August asked, grabbing the medallion that hung around her neck to offer it to Penelope.

"Thanks, but that's not a good idea. I don't know what will happen if you take it off. Your memory may be affected again. And if he hears I was in here, how do I explain how I got out?" Penelope sighed. "It looks like you are stuck with me for the time being."

"Well that's not such a bad thing for me," August smiled, thankful for the company. "We should find the alyko responsible. If they are impressive enough to make a cage like this, then they will be good to have on our side."

"The trick is finding them," Penelope sighed. "And now I can't even sneak out and wander around."

"Is that what you were planning to do?" August asked, her golden orbs enlarging first in surprise at the risk that would entail and then with the spark of inspiration. "You can't sneak around here now, but… I can."

"No, that's not a good idea," Penelope shook her head in adamant refusal. "Then he will know you got out, he will find out about the talisman, he will destroy it, and then who knows what else he will do."

"But we can't make decisions here based out of fear. I need to get back to my mate, Penelope! I need to get back to Graeme! When I left him, he was fine, but… but I can't feel him here like I usually can. I don't know if that's the distance or if it is something else."

"You would know if something happened to him," Penelope insisted.

"That is not enough for me! I can't simply wait until I feel that something is terribly wrong. He is counting on me… the whole pack is counting on me to come back!" she exclaimed, chest heaving with the truth of it. "If you will not take the talisman from me to get out of this room and look around on your own, then I will do it."

"And here you were so happy to have my company. Now you are planning on ditching me," Penelope chuckled. "Well if you are truly determined to do this, I obviously can't stop you," she said, holding up her wrists as she did. "So you would probably have the best chance since you can actually use your ability. And you are powerful, August. I felt it in the infirmary when you threw me. You are very powerful. But you will need a plan."

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Zagan arrived at the gate to Gray Vale that automatically opened to receive him. It parted its steel teeth to allow him passage, and what greeted him was the dense fog that characterized this area of the vampire territory.

The vampires existed in a dimension only accessible by one of their kind, much like how the fae were believed to exist. Although no vampire had ever truly seen a fae, they knew of their existence.

Both the vampires and fae possessed a kind of immortality. But while vampires were neither living nor dead, the fae were rumored to be something like pure, constant life. They communed and gained power from the natural elements and the seasons as well as from the cyclical patterns of the Earth. And because of that, fae like La Loba could breathe life back into earthly creatures who had lost it.

Fae could not only see the Veiled, but that is where their kind commonly traversed—in liminal spaces where separate dimensions otherwise butted up against one another. Because of this fluidity, creatures who walked the Earth experienced encounters with fae as if they were ethereal spirits of nature or ghosts whose whispers spoke of unknowable things—hidden secrets of the past and events yet to unfold in the linear future.

While vampires and fae were not exactly opposites, they were each the others' answers to an end to existence. Fae were believed to have the ability to bring vampires life, which would of course make them finally capable of dying. And it was believed that vampires held a similar ability to end the fae, though it was not clear how this would be accomplished.

There were those who had theories. Some believed drinking from a pure fae would draw and trap their essence in the vampire's body and therefore in the neither living nor dead plane of existence. But there was no known proof of the theory working in practice. Neither vampires nor fae cared to seek the other kind out to test it. Each kind was satisfied to keep to their own dimensions and preserve their unhindered immortality.

Zagan was the exception to this, and because of that, he was also an outcast.

Zagan's determination to find the closest thing he could to a pure fae threatened not only his own immortality, but everyone else's as well. The only reason there was not a greater attempt to stop him was because he spent all of his time hiding in his own private dimension with his lycan and alyko pets—a mongrel race that was neither fae nor wolf nor human and fell short of anything exceptional by the immortals' standards.

He was seen by the rest of his kind as foolish. And why would he want to die? No one else could understand it. There were always things to keep one entertained.

So when Zagan returned to Gray Vale looking for answers about the bizarre episode he had experienced after drinking the Winter alyko's blood, he did so very carefully. The dense fog allowed him a considerable amount of cover while passing through the gates, but his senses had to be on full alert to avoid bumping into anyone if it could be avoided.

Unfortunately the ancient texts he was seeking were located at the undead heart of the vale right along the river. Because the blood river provided sustenance for any vampire who happened to be strolling by, it was not unusual to run into others in that area. And on top of that, Zagan's senses were dull and his energy at an all time low with how depleted the blood was in his system. It would be best to approach the river straightaway before setting out on the rest of his task simply so he had the energy to follow through.

With that thought in mind, he made his way to the most secluded spot along the river he could think of to get a drink and replenish what the Winter alyko had somehow taken from him.