My Lycan Mate of Suicide Forest

348  Catching up with Violet

"I'm sorry, I am quite tired. Is it okay if we continue this later today?" Neoma asked, finding herself suddenly dizzy from exhaustion.

She had been unconscious for who knows how long in Zagan's pig pen, but then she ran from those two males in her pack and ended up fighting against freezing river rapids. Now that she had talked to Graeme like she wanted, there was no energy left in her.

"Whoah," Lucas darted over to her side when he saw her starting to melt toward the floor and helped guide her to the bed.

"Yeah, let's leave her to rest. I'm sure everyone else could use some sleep after the excitement today," Graeme said. "We will pick this up later. After we tell the pack about… all that has happened," he sighed, "we will come up with a plan for going to save the rest of them."

"Sounds good," Selah said and started to make her way out.

"Selah, thank you for everything," Graeme told her as she was leaving. "And everyone else, too. Thank you. I know I am not myself. I will thank you all properly when everything comes back to me."

"We understand, Graeme," Greta said, giving him a crooked smile as she patted his shoulder. "Sam and I will sleep at the house. Will you be coming?"

"No, I'll stick around here and find an empty bed. I am really not tired," he replied.

"Well you were out good when we found you. Maybe that has something to do with it," she said. "Come here, give me a hug. Call us if something happens… if anything happens. Okay?"

"Sure," he agreed, "thanks, sis." Greta gave him a lingering smile before she and Sam left.

"Are you two good?" he turned to ask Lucas and Neoma.

"Yeah," Lucas said, glancing down at the girl who was already nodding off to sleep. "I will stay here with her."

Graeme watched the apprehension feather Lucas' jaw and brow as he looked at Neoma. It felt like he had lost a lifetime of memories, because the Lucas he knew was not this caring and considerate. He grunted softly to himself before stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him. He should go check on the alyko.

"Graeme?" a timid voice called from down the hall, and he squinted to see a familiar face peeking out from one of the rooms.

"Violet?" he asked, surprised to see her here in the medical wing. "Are you hurt?"

Violet stepped cautiously out of the room into the hallway, tightening the sweater that was around her shoulders as she did. "Can I talk to you?"

He glanced back down the other half of the hallway, hoping to find some indication as to what Violet was doing here. Was this something else he should know about?

"It will just take a minute," she added.

"Of course," he replied, walking down to the room where she had turned and disappeared back into.

When he entered, he was surprised to find that no one else was here with her. If she were injured, her mother would likely be here. Her and her mother were very close.

Violet's demeanor was odd as well. She was typically very confident, but now she was huddled on the bed with the clear scent of fear saturating the room around her.

"What happened, Violet?" he asked, eyebrows pinched together in confusion.

"Um, I heard you all talking. I'm sorry, I wasn't meaning to eavesdrop. It was so quiet, and then…"

"What did you hear?" he asked gruffly.

"You lost your memory?" she glanced up at him, and that's when he noticed the red marks on her face. Clearly something had happened to her. "I want you to know something that you might have forgotten. It has to do with your mate."

A muscle feathered in Graeme's jaw. It would not be out of character for Violet to take advantage of this situation, so he braced himself for what was coming.

"What about her?" he ground out.

"Please don't get angry, okay?" she said tremulously, and he noticed her hands shaking as she readjusted the sweater around her shoulders again. "I left the pack for awhile, and I ventured into another territory. I was wanting to get hurt, I think. It was stupid, but I had helped the elders try to set up your mate, and then they basically told me to get lost for awhile."

Graeme crossed his arms across his chest, taking in this new information. Damn, so much had happened.

"I was… I was attacked," she said, her lips quivering as she did. "I'm sorry," she wiped the tears that had started falling from her eyes before regaining her composure. "They were lycans… the ones who, who… um, who attacked me. But there was this other male. He had the same eyes as your mate. He bit me and…"

A growl puttered in Graeme's throat as he imagined the scene unfolding that she was describing. Had she been raped? What kind of fucking monsters would do something like that? Violet jumped at the sound and pushed herself back into the bed away from him, her whole body shaking with tremors as the scent of her fear spiked in the room.

"Violet, I'm sorry," he said softly, approaching the bed with his hands up to show he had no ill intent. "That was not for you. It was instinct. Are you okay?" He squatted next to the bed so he wasn't looming over her any longer.

She nodded, her chest heaving and pupils dilated but she took a deep breath and curled the sweater around her again.

"He took my wolf. The male who looks like your mate. He bit me, and my wolf is gone," she sputtered. "I think all of this is happening because of your mate. And I'm sorry. I just want her to know that. If you could tell her… I just, I just want my wolf back. I'm not healing…" she said, gradually pulling the sweater down to reveal the bite mark on her neck.

"Did he mark you?" Graeme asked, clenching his teeth to try to keep his growl at bay. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I don't… I don't know," she stuttered. "Goddess, I hope not."