My Lycan Mate of Suicide Forest

"Greta, do you remember the story about the raven and the sun?" Graeme asked as he, August, and Sage all filed back into the house and August shrugged off his jacket to return it to him.

Greta scrunched her face up thinking when Sylvia piped up behind her.

"You mean the legend of the raven and the box of daylight?" Sylvia walked forward from where she had been perched on the kitchen island.

"Yeah, that's what it was. Maggie told it to us once," he nodded.

"It speaks of how the light came into this world, including daylight, moonlight, and starlight," she said. "Oh, you're wearing the talisman Maggie gave your father."

"Talisman?" Greta repeated, walking forward to stand next to her.

"Yes, it was blessed as a talisman for your father, carrier of the Alpha title and the appointed light for our pack who would guide us. She would be so pleased for you to wear it. How appropriate is it that you should have it now? After a period of darkness for all of us," she smiled and squeezed his arms affectionately.

"What is the story? I don't think I remember it," Greta asked.

"Oh, I'm not sure I remember all of the details, but it speaks of a nobleman and his daughter who held light from the world as treasures rather than sharing them. The raven was the one who freed it," she explained.

"The raven was a spirit," Sage spoke up, and everyone turned to him in surprise. "He saw that the girl drank from a stream every morning. Raven become a small leaf in the stream so she would drink him too, and then she became pregnant with him. Raven was born the grandson of the nobleman," Sage recited as if the story was dear to him.

"They loved Raven so much. The nobleman gave him everything he wanted, including the box with the sun inside. But then Raven opened the box and set the sun free to be shared with the rest of the world. The nobleman was angry, and he trapped Raven inside where there was fire. Raven was white first, but then he became black from smoke."

Sylvia's face was beaming as she listened to Sage tell the story while everyone else looked on dumbfounded. They had never heard him speak so much.

"That is fascinating," August spoke first, finding her voice. "Thank you for sharing the story with us."

"Yes, you tell it quite well," Sylvia smiled. "Much better than I would have."

"Why did Maggie choose the raven and daylight for the talisman?" Sam asked.

"I just always assumed it had to do with being a light to guide us. But it wasn't explained to me by Maggie," she replied, folding her hands in front of herself as she admired it on Graeme. "Perhaps it is something more meaningful to the alyko, like the story Charlotte shared with us about La Loba."

"Well Graeme is revealing some truths for the pack tonight, isn't he? Perhaps he is more like the raven than the daylight in that respect," Greta chuckled.

"Right, we should be going," Graeme reminded them. "Greta, where's mom's dress coat?"

"Oh, it's upstairs. I'll grab it," she said.

"I'll get it for you," Sam stepped in. "If you keep running up the stairs, you're going to trip," he winked at her.

"I'm very graceful," she objected but let him go anyway. "You know where it is in my closet?"

"Yeah," he called down.

"We'll take the jeep," Graeme told his mate, grabbing her hand and kissing the back of it.

"We can't all fit," she said, looking around the house.

"You and I will take it," he replied.

"But shouldn't we all go together? I'll have a coat. I'll be fine. It isn't far," she told him, rubbing his arm in that soothing way. "We just walked through the forest path this morning," she chuckled.

"You had more clothes on," he replied, looking at her bare shoulders and chest. At least her hair was down.

"But I have you to help keep me warm," she whispered, leaning in to him and that warmth she spoke of, allowing him to tuck her under his arm.

"If you wish to walk, then we will walk," he relented, a smile forming as he succumbed to her influence on him. He kissed the top of her head and then let her go to grab the coat from Sam as he came down the steps with it.

Everyone began to file out the front door while Graeme wrapped her in his mother's dress coat that she only ever wore to events like this or Yule. There was a nostalgia attached to it, and a swell of emotion caught in his throat once he saw August dressed in it, the glittering skirt of her dress flowing out the bottom that she scooped up in her hand in preparation for their walk.

"I could carry you," he said softly in her ear, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Oh, I know you could," she giggled, and they went through the door to follow the others.

"This looks so lovely," Sylvia said as they emerged. She was looking at the impressive group of joyous and ghoulish jack-o-lanterns that were now flickering on either side of the front door.

"Wasn't that so thoughtful of the pups?" August smiled broadly as she turned to view them next to Sylvia.

Above them a crow cawed loudly and swooped down to alight on a tree nearby where it stopped and stared at them. No one seemed to notice except August and Graeme who both followed the sound to the black bird's perch and then looked at each other warily. That was August's crow. She had not seen it since she went to talk with Zoe in the dungeon that day. Why had it been compelled to appear now as the evening of Samhain approached and the sun slipped toward the horizon?

"Let's go have some fun," Sylvia's bright voice drew them away from the troubled thought, and they all started off through the trees toward the pack house.

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