Chapter 35 THE ELDER’S Lie
ALICIA'S POV
I find Elder Pascal in the archives just before dawn.
He's hunched over ancient texts, candlelight casting shadows across his weathered face. The same face I saw in Kai's memories. Standing over burning bodies. Giving orders to kill everyone. Watching a twelve-year-old girl die while her brother ran.
My hands shake. I clench them into fists to hide it.
"Elder Pascal."
He looks up, surprise flickering across his features before settling into practiced calm. "Alicia. You should be resting. The claiming with Kai must have drained you."
"It did. But it also showed me something." I step into the room, closing the door behind me. "Something I need to ask you about."
His expression doesn't change, but I catch the slight tension in his shoulders. "The mate bond can reveal many things. Not all of them pleasant."
"No. Not pleasant at all." I move closer, studying his face. Looking for any sign of guilt. "I saw Kai's memories. The night his pack was slaughtered. The Silver Creek Pack massacre five years ago."
"A tragedy." Pascal's voice is appropriately somber. "One of many such attacks in recent years. Rogues, most likely. Or rival packs settling old disputes."
"That's what everyone thinks. But the bond showed me more than just the attack." I'm right in front of him now. Close enough to see the pulse jumping in his neck. "It showed me who led it. Who gave the orders to kill everyone, including the children."
Heavy and dangerous silence stretches between us.
"And who did you see?" His voice is carefully neutral.
"You."
The word hangs in the air like a blade.
Pascal doesn't flinch. Doesn't deny it immediately. Just watches me with those ancient eyes that have seen too much and revealed too little.
"The mate bond can create false visions, child. Especially during intense emotional moments like a claiming." His tone is gentle, almost pitying. "What you saw was likely a manifestation of fear. Of your own doubts about trusting the elders after everything Vincent did."
"That's convenient." I don't back down. "Blame it on my traumatized mind instead of addressing what I actually saw."
"I'm not blaming you for anything. I'm simply explaining the reality of mate bonds." He sets down the text he was reading. "They're not perfect conduits of truth. They're colored by emotion, by fear, by the receiver's own biases and experiences."
"So you're saying I imagined your face? Imagined you standing there while Kai's family burned?"
"I'm saying you saw something that frightened you and your mind assigned it a familiar face." Pascal stands slowly, age evident in the movement. "I've been an elder in this territory for forty years. Why would I order the slaughter of an innocent pack?"
"I don't know. That's what I'm trying to figure out." My voice is harder now. "But your eyes are lying even if your words aren't."
Something like anger maybe, or fear flashes in those eyes.
"Careful, girl. Accusing elders of murder based on visions from an incomplete claiming is dangerous territory." His voice drops. "Especially when you have no proof. No evidence. Just the confused memories of a bond formed under duress."
He's right about the proof. I have nothing but what I saw. Nothing concrete that would convince Ray or the pack council.
But I know what I saw. I know it in my bones.
"Kai will remember eventually." I take a step back, putting distance between us. "The bond strengthened his memories. Made them clearer. And when he does remember, when he confirms what I saw, what then?"
"Then we'll deal with it." Pascal's expression is unreadable. "But until that moment, I suggest you keep these accusations to yourself. The pack is already broken. The last thing we need is internal conflict based on unreliable visions."
"Is that a threat?"
"It's advice. From someone who's survived longer than you've been alive." He picks up his text again, dismissing me. "Go rest, Alicia. You have a challenge to face at dawn. You'll need your strength."
I should leave. Should take his advice and let it go until I have proof.
But something keeps me rooted in place. Some instinct screaming that this matters. That Pascal's involvement in Kai's pack massacre connects to everything else happening. To Jake's sudden aggression. To the coded messages. To The Veritas pulling strings from the shadows.
"What was in Silver Creek that threatened you?" The question comes out before I can stop it.
Pascal goes very still. "Nothing threatened me. I had nothing to do with that pack."
"Then why did they have to die? All of them. Even the children." My voice is shaking now. "What did they know? What were they hiding?"
"You're grasping at shadows, child."
"Maybe. But shadows have substance if you know where to look." I head for the door, then pause. "I'm going to find out the truth. About Silver Creek. About The Veritas. About all of it. And when I do, if your name is anywhere in that truth, elder or not, I'm coming for you."
I leave before he can respond. Before the trembling in my hands becomes obvious. Before the fear I'm hiding breaks through.
Because confronting Pascal was stupid. Reckless. If he really is connected to The Veritas, I've just painted a target on my back.
But I had to know. Had to see his reaction. Had to confirm what the bond showed me wasn't just imagination.
And his eyes told me everything. The carefully controlled anger. The flash of something that might be fear. The way he dismissed me too quickly, too smoothly.
Guilty. He's guilty of something even if I can't prove it yet.
The question is what to do with that knowledge.
I head for the records room instead of my bedroom. Sleep can wait. Jake's challenge can wait. Right now, I need answers.
The records room is dusty and forgotten. Shelves lined with journals and ledgers dating back generations. Pack history preserved in fading ink and brittle paper.
I start with twenty years ago. Work backward through the years, looking for anything about Silver Creek Pack. About massacres. About Veritas.
Most entries are boring. Territorial disputes. Mating ceremonies. Deaths from old age.
But three hours into my search, I find it.
A journal entry from nineteen years ago. The handwriting is cramped, hurried. Like whoever wrote it was afraid of being discovered.
November 12th. The Rowan pack has been eliminated. Elder Pascal confirmed all targets neutralized except one. The Alpha's son, Kai Rowan, approximately age nine, escaped during the raid. Search parties deployed but the boy vanished into the wilderness.
Pascal insists we find him before his memories solidify. Before he remembers why his pack had to die. The knowledge they possessed about the True Luna prophecy was too dangerous to allow them to continue.
If the boy survives long enough to remember what his mother told him, everything we've built will be at risk. Find him. Silence him. Before it's too late.
The entry ends there. No signature. No explanation of what knowledge Silver Creek Pack had.
But it confirms everything. Pascal ordered the massacre. Did it to protect secrets about the True Luna prophecy. And has been hunting Kai for nineteen years, trying to silence him before his memories return.
My hands shake as I carefully photograph the page with my phone. Evidence. Finally, concrete evidence.
But evidence of what exactly? That Pascal killed Kai's family? Yes. But why? What did they know about the True Luna that was dangerous enough to warrant genocide?
I flip through more pages, looking for context. Looking for anything that explains what Silver Creek knew.
Another entry, two months before the massacre:
The Rowan pack seer has prophesied the True Luna's return. Claims she will be born of forbidden love between rival pack bloodlines. Claims she will have four mates and power enough to reshape our world.
But she also prophesied something else. Something the council doesn't want known. She says the True Luna will expose the corruption at the heart of pack leadership. Will reveal the lies we've told for generations about how the council maintains power.
Elder Pascal argues we must eliminate the Rowan pack before this prophecy spreads. Before other packs begin questioning our authority. The council votes in his favor. Five to two.
May the moon goddess forgive us for what we're about to do.
The entry ends there. The next several pages are torn out. Deliberately removed.
But I have enough. Enough to understand why Kai's family died. Enough to know Pascal has been hiding the truth about True Lunas for decades. Enough to realize I'm not the first True Luna, just the first one he couldn't kill before awakening.
My phone buzzes. A text from Ray: Where are you? Dawn is in an hour. Jake's forces are gathering at the border.
Right. The challenge. I'd almost forgotten in the rush of discovery.
I photograph as many relevant pages as I can, then carefully return the journal to its shelf. Can't let Pascal know I found this. Not yet. Not until I have a plan.
I head back through the quiet packhouse. Most wolves are still sleeping, gathering strength for the battle everyone knows is coming regardless of how my challenge with Jake ends.
Kai's waiting in the hallway outside my room. He's healed completely from the silver poisoning, the mate bond between us humming with strength.
"You found something." Not a question. He can feel my emotions through the bond.
"Yes. Proof that Pascal ordered your pack's massacre. That he's been lying about everything." I show him the photos on my phone.
His face goes completely blank as he reads. Then rage, pure and cold, floods through our bond.
"He killed them. Killed my family because of a prophecy." His voice is eerily calm. The kind of calm that comes before explosive violence. "Because they knew the truth about True Lunas."
"Kai,"
"I'm going to kill him." He's already turning toward the stairs. Toward where Pascal is probably still in the archives. "Right now. Before he can run."
I grab his arm. "No. Not yet."
"He murdered children, Alicia. My sister was seven years old. He burned her alive to protect pack secrets." The bond pulses with barely restrained fury. "Give me one good reason not to tear his throat out."
"Because we don't know who else is involved. The journal mentions a council vote. Five voted to kill your pack. We don't know who they are. If you kill Pascal now, the others go underground and we lose our chance to expose all of them."
Kai's jaw clenches. Every muscle in his body is coiled for violence.
"Also," I continue, "you killing an elder right before my challenge with Jake would give Blood Moon Pack the perfect excuse to claim our pack is unstable. Chaotic. Would turn allies against us."
"I don't care about allies. I care about justice."
"Then help me get real justice. Not just revenge." I cup his face with both hands, forcing him to look at me. "Let me face Jake. Win or lose, that challenge will buy us time. Time to investigate who else is involved. Time to gather evidence. Time to expose the entire conspiracy instead of just one guilty elder."
The bond trembles between us. His wolf wants blood. Wants Pascal's life for the lives he took.
But slowly, agonizingly, Kai's breathing steadies. The rage doesn't disappear, but it banks. Controlled.
"After the challenge?" His voice is rough.
"After the challenge, we make them all pay. Every single one who voted to kill your family." I press my forehead to his. "I promise."
He nods once. Stiff. Unhappy. But accepting.
"I need to tell Ray and the others." I step back. "They need to know what we're dealing with."
"Be careful who you trust. If five council members voted for the massacre, how many are still in power? How many are watching us right now?"
Good question. Terrifying question.
The sun is rising. Dawn light creeps through the windows. In less than an hour, I'll face Jake in single combat. Winner takes everything.
And somewhere in this packhouse, murderers who've hidden their crimes for nineteen years are planning their next move.
Pascal's face flashes through my mind. The way he dismissed my accusations. The way he tried to convince me I'd imagined everything.
He knows I'm close to the truth. Knows the mate bond revealed his guilt.
Which makes me dangerous to him now.
I just hope I survive today's challenge long enough to make him pay for what he did.