“I am afraid I cannot let that happen,” replied Alpha George.
In all honesty, I did not blame the man. He had a lot to lose if the truth came out. The issues we had addressed so far were only the tip of the iceberg. If the Blood Moon pack were investigated and all its dark secrets came out, Alpha George's crimes would be on the scale of offending the entire werewolf race.
“We are only being nice when we say that we request your cooperation. What we mean is that you have no choice. Irrespective of your decision, a full-scale investigation will be launched in your pack,” explained Elder Thaddeus.
“I will pull out from the Council,” Alpha George said in a firm tone.
“Then you will have to step down from your duties as Alpha of the Blood Moon,” replied Elder Davis.
“The Blood Moon pack will no longer be a part of this nonsense,” he said. Even though it was quite cold in the room, Alpha George was soaked in his own sweat.
I had to say that I was a bit surprised at this stance and I could tell from the faces of the others that they were surprised. Did he have any idea what he was talking about? Even I with all my cockiness could not pull out of the Council if I wanted to. And if I really wanted to, it would make absolutely no sense to do so.
“Elder Walker, can you explain to Alpha George why that is impossible?”
“Alpha George, in order for you to leave the Council you must have a unanimous vote from your pack including the noblemen and the common people saying that they do not want to remain in the Council,” Elder Walker explained like he was talking to a six-year-old.
“I can get one,” Alpha George said with confidence and not one of us doubted him. He had manipulated the minds of millions to get the throne, doing so to get them to decide the same thing would be a walk in the park for him.
“That clause is redundant. There is no way about a million people will have the same mind about the same thing. You are stuck with us,” explained Elder Davis.
“You don't know that yet. I will get every one of my people to…”
“If every one of your people has the same mind it can only mean one thing; that they have all been hypnotized,” said Elder Thaddeus.
There was silence after that. Nobody wanted a dive into how dark that sounded. That could only mean one thing; that the rumours that had floated around for about two decades were indeed true.
“The Dark Moon pack, is not a part of the Council,” argued Alpha George.
“It is not. You are right about that,” confirmed Elder Walker.
“So why the double standard? huh?”
“Because the pack is hybrid. They are either werewolves or vampires and some of them are in between. There are even rumours that they are humans. They are different from us,” explained Elder Thaddeus.
“On what grounds are you going to investigate my pack? If my people are going to be hounded for unnecessary questioning you had better have a good reason,” said Alpha George.
“There are lots of reasons we need to investigate, you are not going to like any of them,” said Elder Walker.
“You can investigate me all you like but you will leave my pack out of this,” what he was trying to do now was only pathetic. How could he feign that suddenly he cared so much for his people that he did not want a couple of them to be asked a few questions? Someone needed to give Alpha George a handbook on lying.
“There are reports of missing persons in your pack.”
“People go missing every now and then. I believe Alpha Dagen has a missing person case too.”
“There are reports of torture chambers.”
“Sometimes investigations take on a dark turn. That is nothing new in any pack.”
“There are reports on settlements designed to align with the stars in order to facilitate mass rituals.”
“Our architects take inspiration from astronomy; I would say that is creative and should not cause room for suspicion.”
“There are reports on mass deaths.”
“You already mentioned that we suffered a plague not too long ago.”
“The sum total of these reports require an investigation.”
“If you analyze every bad thing that goes on within a pack, all of the packs will be under investigation.”
“We will come around to everyone but we are starting with you.”
Alpha George heaved in frustration. It was beginning to dawn on him that there was no getting out of this.
“You are only looking for a way to take away my throne,” said Alpha George in a bitter tone.
“It would serve us no good doing so seeing as none of us seated here can take your place on that throne.”
This brought a cackling laugh out of Alpha George who said, “You are telling me that you have no motive? That all of this is for nothing?”
“We only do this for the good of the people.”
“How tragic. What about all those coups? The ones that took lives? That blood flowed like rivers?” he asked in a sarcastic tone. He began to laugh once more like a maniac and we all sat in silence, watching him.
“Alpha Raphael's grandfather was not the heir to the throne. He ascended the throne by killing his bloody sisters and brothers. He went as far as to kill all his living family. If that had not happened, Alpha Raphael would not have the privilege of sitting across from me to insult my honour and yet, you speak of the bloody good of the people?” His voice was a mix of rage and disgust.
I noticed that Alpha Raphael's face had turned red with anger but I sent him a warning gaze.