"Everyone is safe for now. No one has spotted the Council's Helicopters or Hunters in days."

"Maybe they're just planning something bigger," Visena replied to Gideon, not looking up from the pond. She spent more time with the tadpoles than with him.

Gideon sat on a nearby tree stump, watching his despondent mate. He looked like he was grieving too, but his emotions were closed off to Visena. "When were you planning on reaching out to them?"

"Soon."

"When are you coming back to our bed?"

"Don't know."

Gideon growled, startling her and a few small fish, and paced the length of the pond. "You are my mate, and you're treating me like a casual hook up. Do you not feel the pain from our separation?"

Visena hadn't. Rather, she thought it was just the grief of losing her friend. However, the constant ache now made a bit more sense. "I did- I mean, I think I do."

"Then why are you pushing me away?" His voice rose, and Visena turned to face him. "Do you think it hasn't hurt me? Do you somehow think you're the only one Eve's death affected? I've known her my whole life, Visena. She was my best friend, and now she's dead." His chest heaved as he silently watched her stare at him for a beat. Then two.

The Fae stood abruptly and started walking back to the packhouse when Gideon grabbed her bicep, stopping her. "Stop shutting me out! Mates are supposed to help each other through things like this, not fall apart. I am your mate, Visena."

"I know!" she shouted. Her throat burned from the volume, and she almost fell into a coughing fit. "I know what you are, and it's exactly what I took away from someone else. Thyra is out there alone," she finished with a whisper, gesturing wildly in the direction of Malum. "She is all alone because I killed her mate."

"Did you shoot her? Did you make her step in front of you? No and no. She would have chosen to die for you in a heartbeat. It doesn't make it hurt any less, but you need to stop self-destructing. Let me in!"

"I can't! Just go away."

"I won't. Not now, not ever." He spun her until her chest pressed against his and cupped her head in his palm. "Look at me. See me."

She looked into his olive eyes with a pained whimper and let the tears fall. His touch instantly eased her pain, and she realised so much of her suffering was from her isolation.

When his lips dipped to meet hers, she kissed back hard, pulling against his shirt with bunched fists. He hoisted her legs around his waist and deepened the kiss as he sat atop the hundred-ringed log.

"You're coming back to my bed," he grumbled against her lips.

"Yes." She tilted her hips over Gideon's groin and moaned at the pressure. It had been so fucking long since she had felt anything.

"Fuck," he groaned, but his hands stilled her rocking. "You wouldn't be doing this for the right reasons."

It was Visena's turn to swear. "Why the self-restraint, Gideon? I thought you wanted me," her husky voice had him hardening against her core.

"I do. And I will take you, in every position, on every surface in our house."

"When?"

"Don't know."

Visena couldn't believe he threw her words back in her face. "Fine, well, I'll just sleep at Pr-"

Her words cut off with a shriek as he hoisted her over his shoulder and carried her to the packhouse. Without comment, he forcefully tucked her beneath his weighted duvet and draped his limbs across her so she couldn't escape.

For the first time in weeks, she smiled. It was small, barely reaching her eyes, but it was there.

*

"They must have gone into hiding," Liam suggested from his seat at the Packhouse table. Two weeks passed since the last hunters had been spotted, and the wolves seemed hopeful.

"We need to bring the fight to us," Visena muttered. Her voice had fully recovered, but she continued to speak in hushed tones. It helped with the flashbacks. Loud sounds triggered memories she would rather keep buried.

"We've talked about this; it's too dangerous," Liam said, holding a squirming Cassia in his clutches.

The child frowned at him, "Dada, down." He placed her on the floor, and she toddled around as the rest of the wolves shared his sentiment.

"Please, I'm feeling better now, trust me. I know what I'm doing! We need to lure them here and kill them. They already know where Malum is located. The barrier will be the only thing stopping them from finding us."

Gideon sat opposite her at the table's head and gnawed the inside of his bottom lip, staring at her flushed face. "What if we only drop Malum's barrier and lure them there? Then we keep Praelia and Invictus safe, and we get your neutral ground."

"I- I, I don't know if I can. What if they find Thyra? And that place. There are a lot of memories there."

Gideon looked contemplative. "Everyone go home. I need a word with my mate."

Silence fell across the table as everyone processed their King's words. "Now," he reiterated.

Liam scooped up Cassia and took Nairi's hand while Orion helped Prim down the steps and out of the empty Packhouse.

When burning ears were far out of hearing range, her mate sighed. His calloused hand ran across his head a few times before her rounded on her, brows artfully furrowed and raven hair -tousled. "We need to go to Caeruleum. Open a portal, and we'll go now."

"What? No! Why?"

"Because the suffering you're experiencing right now is not possible for wolves. That means I can't help you, and neither can Kora. So this has to be your Fae side, and you've got a fairly powerful grandmother that could fix this."

"Fix this?"

"You know what I mean, Vi. The nightmares, the flashbacks. They're going to get you killed, and I won't sit by and let it happen. So open the damn portal!"

Visena turned her head to the side and scowled at the floor. This is who I am now. There's nothing to be fixed.

"Open it, please. Visena, I love you and if you only do one thing for me for the rest of my life with you, then let it be this. Open the portal."

The Fae cast her hand along the dining floor with a furious shout and opened the passage to the Veil. Her mate took her clenched fist and followed her through onto the still, pebbled lakeside of Angpriake.

*

The faces of the water Fae looked miserable as Gideon walked passed with his mate. The Alpha realised they were sporting similar looks to the wilting Fae at his side. She was the shell of the woman he had met in the forest. It seemed like her essence had gone when Eve died, almost like she had been killed with her.

Gideon grieved for his friend and Gamma, but the pain Visena seemed to endure felt insurmountable. He just wanted her back. He didn't care if it was selfish. She was his everything, and the path she was taking would kill her.

"We're almost there," he said, pulling her towards the castle doors.

Their footsteps echoed down the concrete hallway until they neared the throne room. An enchanting melody swirled through the crack beneath the doors, and Visena perked up slightly. "I know that song." She rushed forward and shoved her tired frame against the doors. They opened with a hearty groan, and she pulled Gideon in after her. "Mother?"

Queen Cecilia turned to her granddaughter, and the singing ceased. "Why are you here?"

"I- I'm sorry, I knew it wasn't her, I just- The song..." The Fae paled and looked up at Gideon. He brushed a stray hair off her cheek with his thumb and turned to the Queen.

"I need your help."

"Pray tell," she muttered as she took a seat on her throne.

"Someone Visena and I cared about deeply, our Pack Gamma died, and the pain of her death is hurting her. I don't know how to help her, and I thought you might-"

Cecilia raised her hand to silence the Alpha and glowered at her granddaughter. "What did you do?"

Visena's wide eyes stared at the Queen. "What?"

"I knew it was a bad idea letting you live."

Gideon growled, pulling his mate tighter to his side as she shook her head defiantly. "I didn't do anything. Why do you hate me so much? My mother loved me-"

"And she died because of it," Cecilia boomed. "My people had only just recovered from her death when they were despaired by another loss. Not a Fae death, it now seems. A wolf one. Thanks to you, we are somehow tethered to your grief, and my kingdom is dying."

"What are you talking about?" Gideon demanded, stepping slightly in front of his mate as if he could shield her from her grandmother's harshness.

"Fae anima connects us all," Cecilia ground out. "If one Water Fae dies, we all feel grief. It is what protects us and stops unnecessary deaths. Visena has so kindly shared her grief, over some wolf, with thousands of Fae. We are suffering because of her- No, we are suffering because I was foolish enough to be swayed by the whims of my only child, who is now dead because of her."

She finished the rant, pointing her slender fingers at Gideon's mate.

He drew a calming breath to avoid insulting the Queen of the only surviving Fae, but he really wanted to tear her head from her shoulders. "Can you help her?"

"I never want to see-"

"Hey!" Gideon's yell stopped in her tracks. "If only to help yourself and your people, can you help her?"

Visena stared at the floor whole body shivered, and Gideon wished he could wrap her in his arms and hide her forever.

After a few tense moments, the Queen nodded. "Come here."

Without looking up, Gideon's mate shuffled to the waiting hands of Cecilia, who tugged her hands roughly.

"Your ailment is not Fae either. The grief you feel should only be possible from the death of us. Your mixed bloodline has created quite a mess."

The shame plastered on Visena's face sent pain twisting in Gideon's chest. He was about to step forward when he noticed Cecilia's softening expression.

"I see your mother in you. She was just like her father," the Queen paused, looking to the side as Visena's head popped up.

"My grandfather?"

"Yes, well. We don't speak of him here."

"Why? Where is he?"

"Dead. He died defending his kind."

Gideon froze.

"What kind?" Visena asked, wide-eyed.

"Aeolus," Cecilia took on a whimsical look before returning her gaze to her granddaughter. "He was Sky Fae. A dragon shifter."

Visena's mouth dropped open.

"It's irrelevant." The Queen waved her hand dismissively. "If you had any of his bloodline, you would have seen it by now. Now, where were we?"

A brief memory of Visena during their mating ceremony flitted through Gideon's mind. When he pulled her from the pond, she was unlike anything he had ever seen. Although he had never seen a dragon, the scales wrapping her body were reminiscent of a reptile. However, he let the thoughts drift away as Cecilia placed her hands on Visena's temples and closed her eyes.

"The tether is strong. It invades her every thought. I feel Hina has something to do with this, although I cannot understand why. What could you have done to warrant her punishment?"

Visena seemed to contemplate for a moment when her eyes widened in realisation. "Calypso gave me a gift that let me kill Zeir, even though he was my mate. Could that be it?"

Cecilia smirked, "Do you still have the gift?" she asked, peering at the obsidian haired Alpha.

"I guess. Calypso never put the tether back."

"Then yes, that would be why. Hina has a reason for her every choice, and you spat on that when you broke her most precious law."

"But he wasn't my true mate! Surely she would understand..."

"She is not ruled by the same morals we follow. She is a celestial Goddess, born from the Superi Realm. You broke her law."

"I thought you were a goddess too."

"I was born from Angpriake. My connection to the waters makes me more understanding of the whims of other species."

Visena appeared to sink into thought for a moment. "Well, I'll get Calypso to put it back then."

Cecilia nodded. "That should appease her. Now you know this, leave."

Gideon stepped forward and frowned. "Is there nothing you can do to help her pain if you are wrong?"

"I am never wrong," the Queen sneered. "But fine, I will take some of her pain. For the sake of my people."

After a tender brush across her forehead, Visena gasped and threw her arms around her grandmother's waist.

"What-" the Queen sputtered, arms raised. She stared down at the fae and gaped. "Off!"

Visena pulled back in a rush and sprinted at her mate, throwing her limbs around his staggering form in a bear hug.

The emotions flowing down the pack link were of relief. Gideon sighed, burying his head in her hair and breathed her in. "What happened?"

"It's just gone. I still remember, but it doesn't hurt anymore."

"At all?" The complete lack of emotion wasn't desirable either in Gideon's mind.

"Not really. It's just an ache now. I feel like myself again, from before..."

The relief was palpable, and Gideon squeezed his mate tighter, his mouth tightening into a grim line. "Let's go home."