"Who else did you take?

" Zoe asked, increasing her pace to keep up with Zagan who had asked her to follow him to a more comfortable location.

He was considering bringing her into the castle as well, even though he neglected to tell her that. What would his private residence become with so many alyko staying there? Not to mention that the attitude Zoe was projecting now made him feel with certainty that she would strongly object to the memory lapse of the Luna whose pack she had been staying with.

"Why are you concerned with it, Zosime?

" he asked.

She scoffed.

"Why am I concerned with it?

" her voice rose toward the end of the question, and he stopped, turning to face her increasing irritability.

"I have been taking alyko for decades,

" he told her.

"Decades, Zosime. It is what I do. And if I come across any alyko who are particularly special, it is like… a prize for me. Very little excites me. I have lived for centuries,

" he emphasized.

"But when an exceptional alyko appears, it is like Christmas morning. It is like unwrapping a gift. There is no excitement like the process of unwrapping a gift, am I right?

"

Why was he being so honest? Who had he fed from this time? He should keep a collection of the most heartless alyko he could find and only feed from them. Were there not any heartless, uncaring alyko in his possession? What was with all these emotions? He gritted his teeth, but when he met the young girl's gaze, his own softened.

"I would't know,

" she mumbled.

"Stop calling me Zosime.

"

"You have never received a gift?

" he asked, his bottom lip falling open despite his awareness of it. He hated expressions of emotion, including surprise. But truly… this female had been alive for at least sixty years. Had she truly never experienced the joy of opening a gift?

She glared at him—her only response. Well, he was going to have to fix that unfortunate fact. He would find her a gift…

"Oh, don't take that as me wanting a gift from you,

" she chuckled, having emphasized the last word as if it were the most ludicrous thought she could imagine.

Was he displaying his thoughts and feelings that obviously? Fuck these blood donors. He had softened in recent years, only taking blood from those who were willing, but clearly those who were the most willing were also the most emotionally weak.

"So,

" he began, changing the subject as he started walking again.

"You do not wished to be called Zosime. Then what should I call you?

"

"Anything else,

" she ground out.

"Anything else?

" he chuckled, glancing at her.

"So…

" he trailed off, considering what would strike her as highly offensive.

"Yes, literally anything else will do,

" she answered quickly, interrupting his thoughts.

"Call me Dog Shit for all I care.

"

He bristled at this suggestion despite himself. He couldn't bring himself to call her that. He just didn't think of her that way.

"Fred,

" he said finally, nodding his own approval.

"Fred?

" she scoffed, taking long strides to stay by his side.

"It's perfect,

" he smirked, enjoying her recoil.

"Fine. Fred,

" she grumbled.

"So who else did you take from the Hallowell pack? You didn't answer the question.

"

He sighed at her insistence.

"Want to see?

" he asked, diverting on his path toward more rows of pens where the incoming alyko were kept.

She slowed her steps, surprised, he supposed, by his willingness to show her.

They trekked down a row of pens where pigs were grunting, nosing their food and stomping around their small, personal territories—happy to have a spot in the sun's rays. He imagined this was how alyko were as well.

Once upon a time, he had kept all the alyko he captured in the dark. He thought that would help him gain control over them—depriving them of the nature that they so enjoyed. It was the fae in them that needed nature in a way that he couldn't understand.

Fae were creatures so closely intertwined with nature. They had no mates, but if there was something that came close to the mate bond for fae, it would be their connection to nature.

Most fae had one element of nature that they bonded with more than others. There were those who bonded with air as well as those who bonded with earth, fire, and water. Some of the alyko he collected revealed evidence of these tendencies. Their abilities called upon one element more than others. They could manipulate the wind, create swells in the ocean tide, ignite fires when they were angry… it was fascinating. He couldn't access natural forces that way.

Zosime was one of the alyko he had kept in the dark before he realized how much it was preventing the alyko from accessing their full abilities. They needed the air. They needed the sun. They needed… life.

Their requirement of nature was like his requirement of blood. And if he ever hoped to attain an alyko whose abilities most resembled those of a fae, he realized they needed exposure to that which gave them greatest access to their power.

That was why he put the Luna in his makeshift infirmary. It was actually a greenhouse in which he typically grew a wide range of plants, never tiring of marveling at their ability to grow and bloom so brilliantly with few necessities. He rarely gave his plants more than water and sunlight, and yet… they thrived. It was phenomenal.

Life was something he had never had access to, and it intrigued him. Plants were a particular preference of his. Most of the time he avoided the alyko on this personal island of his and kept to the plants—until he needed sustenance, of course.

Unlike those with blood running through their veins, he could coexist with green things without being viewed as a threat. He was a caretaker.. And now he had given up his precious greenhouse to put the Luna there, believing she would be the one who was finally worth all of this time and work and study.