My Lycan Mate of Suicide Forest

"Purification by fire." The snarl curled on Graeme's lips as he gave Andreas one last deadly glare before leaving him.

It was the same thing he told Pearce when he threw him in a cell earlier: the elders' minutes in this lifetime were numbered.

The conversation with Pearce had been much less dramatic at first. Whereas Andreas seemed to have blown a fuse in the desperate scramble to find a solution to stop August's pregnancy, Pearce was decidedly calm. He had accepted his fate, it seemed.

"There's no point in lying anymore about any of it," Graeme had told him.

Pearce claimed to not know where Andreas would be hiding, but maybe he would reveal more than Zoe was able to about... everything.

"Ten years ago, we had no choice but to make the difficult decision we did," Pearce slowly explained. "He was coming for the witches one way or another. It was either going to be us offering them willingly or the entire pack being wiped out in order to get to them."

"My parents would have never let that happen," Graeme shook his head, arms crossed over his chest, imagining his father considering the threat.

"Your parents were out of time. They couldn't figure out how to stop him. No one could. They even sought help from others, including other alyko outside the pack. But there is no way to stop this creature. There is no way to kill him." Pearce's sober eyes held Graeme's to assure him of this truth.

"You're telling me that the hatred and prejudice against the alyko had nothing to do with your plan?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"It made the decision easier to make. And it made the plan easier to formulate and execute. The witches were always distrusted and feared, so implicating them in the Alpha and Luna's deaths was an obvious choice. But ultimately, no—the decision was to save the pack. And in order to do that, we had to remove the leadership." Pearce was so matter-of-fact in the explanation that Graeme wasn't sure if it was refreshing to finally hear it all being freely offered or infuriating to be privy to their twisted logic.

"It wasn't about power?" Graeme huffed his disbelief.

"I am being straight with you, Alpha," Pearce said calmly. "The ultimate reason was as I have told you. The power, particularly for Andreas, was of secondary benefit."

"You can't tell me that personal hatred of the alyko and desire for power had no sway in the making of this decision. And you can't turn a traitorous act like having the Alpha and Luna killed into something noble. They were the rightful leaders of this pack. It was the Moon Goddess who filled those roles with their souls—not yours, not Auden's, and not Andreas'!"

Graeme's chest was heaving, fists and jaw clenched as the conviction of what he was saying flowed out of him and into the cell. The elders wanted to believe that they had saved the pack! They thought their actions honorable.

Pearce's stoic exterior bristled a little with surprise. Graeme seemed a capable Alpha, much to his surprise.

"They had no solution," he gave the calm, well-worn rebuttal.

"So you provided one? A solution that also happened to be most convenient for your interests."

The elder did not respond but held Graeme's glare with unwavering eyes. It had been so many years now, any doubt Pearce may have once had about the decision the elders made together was worn well away and polished into a brilliant luster. These were the circumstances. This was the decision they made. These were the reasons. In so doing, they saved the pack. It was simple.

"Who is this male that demanded the alyko? What can you tell me about him?" Graeme finally asked.

"He is very elusive. I have never spoken with the creature personally. All communications go through Andreas."

"What is his name?"

Pearce sighed. "I do not know."

"You don't know his name, Pearce?"

"I know it sounds hard to believe…"

"It is impossible to believe," Graeme scoffed.

"But it is the truth," Pearce finished. "He is ancient. A name would almost be a disservice."

"How so?" This was ridiculous. They didn't even know this guy's name?

"When a name is given to someone, it assigns them the ability to die… to pass on from this world. It also creates a unique power over them. We assent to our name when called even when we don't respond. There is a silent internal acknowledgement of the call. For this creature… none of that applies."

"What is he, a god?" Graeme rolled his eyes. Did the elders worship him or something?

"Andreas certainly thinks so."

It was the truth. Andreas revered the ancient, unnamed one. And who was anyone to argue? After all, if something can't die, they are not truly alive in the sense that everyone else is. They are more akin to a god or some kind of force of nature.

"What does this thing want with the alyko?" Graeme asked.

"No one is aware of the motivation behind acquiring the witches, at least not to my knowledge. Andreas is not aware of it."

"Where are they kept?"

"That is also not known, as I am sure you can imagine. Once they are gone from here, we know nothing of their whereabouts."

"What about the two pups who have gone missing?" Graeme growled with the thought of them out there somewhere separated from their pack and families.

"It is as I said. We do not know."

"If this thing wants the alyko, then why have you been aborting them?" the snarl echoed off the walls of the cramped space.

Pearce shuddered with the intensity of the sound as it echoed back at him. This question. This act. It was never something he wanted to have done. It wasn't something Andreas wanted done. It was simply a necessary evil.

"He would have come for them, too. He never stops. His demand was for all of our alyko… forever.. We wanted to avoid that as much as possible."