Page 78 of Grim

I grabbed a pair of gray sweatpants from the floor. They were the first pair of clothing I’d put on in days. I pulled them up quickly and stepped outside of the apartment, taking one more look at my mate before shutting the heavy wooden door.

My finger hovered over the green call button to Locke. What I had to tell him would not go well.

Pressing the call button, I waited. It rang three times before he finally picked up.

“Oh, he lives,” he chuckled through the line. “How is your mate? Has she been marked?” His tone turned serious. His curiosity hung in the air while I dramatically paused.

“She is marked. She is mine.”

Locke drew out a long overdue breath. I could hear the scratching of his scalp and the rustling of his pants as he reached for a cig.

“That’s good, that’s good,” his voice shook. “I knew it would work out fine.”

He didn’t.

He didn’t know how well Journey would react to a mark, but it was there. It sat on her shoulder, bright purple and red from its healing. It healed far faster than any human should have, which brought me to the information I needed to give Locke.

“Listen,” I interrupted. He was congratulating me, telling me how happy he was. But the sadness, the worry in his voice was all too familiar. He was worried that I would leave him. My wolf was fully present now, and he held no alpha command over me.

“Journey spoke to me about an old woman who approached her at the bar.”

I recalled what she told me during one of our reprieves.

Locke’s voice cleared, and he listened intently.

“She said she was older, gray hair, mystical looking eyes and she didn’t have a cut like the rest of the members. It was member night, so no one else should have been let in besides those assholes, right?”

“Right,” Locke growled. “I can have Switch look at the cameras. Did the hag do anything to her?”

I shook my head and grunted. “Journey said she came up to her, put her thumb over one of her eyes and said, ‘one eye open, two will be too much,’ then she felt a zap inside her head that helped her recall the mayor hovering over her.” I gritted my teeth. “That was how she could pin him as her rapist.”

Locke swore and threw his lighter to the other side of the room.

“But listen,” I urged. “She can’t remember his face anymore.” Locke stilled on the other side, his breathing heavy. “She can’t remember anything that happened to her for all those years she was used. Specifically, she can’t remember the men using her. She was drugged, hardly coherent when they used her, but as we have spent time together, she says even those small glimpses of her memories have faded.”

Locke stayed silent for a long while. His finger scratching at a wooden table. “Do you think they are connected? The bond? The old woman?” he asked.

I cleared my throat. “Journey also prayed to the goddess.”

The silence between us stretched further. We could only hear each other’s breathing until he swore under his breath.

“When did she do this?” Locke asked.

“Years ago. She prayed for a miracle, for our kind to exist, to belong in a fairy tale where humans didn’t belong. She didn’t know she was praying to the goddess, but she prayed to the moon, which is the same thing, right?”

“It is.” Locke smacked his lips together. “If they are somehow connected, do you think this old woman was the goddess herself?”

My eyes widened, my arm leaning against the tattered wall. It wasn’t uncommon for the goddess to present herself in various forms. I had never seen it, yet I don’t think I’d ever looked.

“You really think—”

“Think about it, the letters, rescuing females, your bond between Journey. It sounds like it’s her.” He gritted his teeth. “Took her long enough to come to our damned rescue.”

“Locke,” I growled. “You cannot curse her, not when she is coming to help now. We should begin praying again, seek her guidance, ask her to send—”

“No,” Locke hissed. “I will not pray to her. I won’t pray to a goddess whom I worshiped reverently untilsherejected me. I won’t.”

The stubborn fool continued to curse through the phone. The padding of my mate’s footsteps across the apartment and the gentle shut of the bathroom door made me want to end the conversation.

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