Chapter 426: 1-3

His eyes widened, in shock, "what? How - oh god - no - I - how?" he stammered. Please not the Elders, what about Scott? "What about Scott?" "Scott lived with Chase and his family, he currently studies at Northwestern, he's a freshman," Philip nodded, his eyes watery. "Did... did he shift?"  I gave him a pill, he shouldn't have shifted, but did he shift? Was he alone? "We sent someone to monitor him now, as far as we could tell, Chase teaches micro-biology at Northwestern... Scott didn't shift, we couldn't understand why though..." It wasn't unknown that if mated with a human a child may or may not shift, but more often than not, that child shifted. "The Elders they said that with a few doses we could rid their wolves, poison them out, there is no danger to the child but the - the pill you can grind it down to powder and mix it into a bottle. You give it to them and it deactivates their wolf gene," but what happens if they want that child to join their cause eventually? I wondered. "Is there something to reactivate the gene?" He shakes his head, slowly, unsure. "I'm not sure, they said that it doesn't hurt the child, and I gave it to Scott, he never showed any signs of sickness, but I wasn't around when he was at shifting age, either." "Anyone else you know and saw it happen?" "They told us, the doctor that we'd bring them too, after a certain amount of doses it went past suppressing the gene to keeping it dormant permanently." I eyed this man in front of me, wondering what the hell was going through his mind years ago when he just up and left his son, knowing that the Elders were involved. I hate to even say it, because maybe he thought extensively about the repercussions back then, but a part of me also knows, can tell that he behaved selfishly. He left that child behind because to him, the Elders had put him with Cecelia, he hadn't loved her, and he wasn't supposed to love his child because if they told him to leave said wife and child behind, he would've done it without batting an eyelash. Now, however I think after making a life with Judy, having their triplets - Meadow, Jade and Taryn - being a father, a part of him, that part of him, regretted leaving behind his child. You couldn't fake concern like he was exhibiting right now, especially not the inner turmoil his mind seemed to be drowning in. "Okay... Do you believe it would be easy to turn members belonging to the Elders against their cause? Those that were in your position...?" He looked at me doubtfully, sighing heavily he laid what he knew on me, once again showing me just how horrid the Elders really were, "You join their cause, they pull you in with a big spiel but the truth is, you don't know what you're signing up for until you're so far in that you just go with the flow." I nodded. "They tell you that you show loyalty to them, that no one is above the cause - but if you would've asked me what the cause was, back then, I would say to protect the way of life for shifters but that wasn't the truth. You repeat what they've conditioned you to think and say, and meeting your mate, your true mate if you're a shifter, that breaks down the spell somewhat... for some people." "Others... recruits that have been following the cause since they were teens, they are - when they meet their mates, it's hard and clouded for them especially if that mate isn't part of the cause." "How do you know about others that have found their mates?" I ask reading his thoughts, as he thinks of a few different people over the course of his life before he met Judy, couples that confirmed for him that they were mates that he never saw again. "I had - there were a few men like me that I knew over the years, that all were die hard cause followers. I mean sometimes you lose contact with them, but there was one guy - Adam Rintz- he met his mate, she wasn't part of the cause. Somehow he seemed to not turn his back on the cause, he said he would approach the Elders about leaving his family, and having him along with his mate moved to another area," his voice monotone. "She was human, he hadn't revealed much to me... but he came back and he told me that the Elders said he could be transferred. All he had to do was make an exit out of his life and since he was assigned to a human family, leave no loose ends. Fake his death." Inside my stomach curled, already seeing the bombardment of memories in his mind, but I kept my face blank, waiting to hear it from his lips and not his mind, "He brought the girl around, I saw her once, but I remembered what she looked like... they told me to help Adam fake his death and we did. Never saw him again, told me that he'd contact me when he settled into his new assignment." Dread rolling off him in waves, "Five months later bones found in the Arizona desert were matched to his mate." I feigned a surprised gasp. "There is a sort of rumor - or chatter that if you will. They don't want you to just turn your back on them, when you're a die hard follower you don't realize that it's all a lie, a farce they themselves created so when you find your mate you go to them. They tell everyone that goes to them, that they will move you, you have to end up cutting all ties even to those that are followers as well. If I hadn't seen Adams mate that one time, I wouldn't have known that she was in fact not alive. That it was all a lie." Philip shook his head, "I - I thought like all the others that had done what Adam did... that it was successful because you didn't hear from them again - they were devoting themselves to the cause. Out of gratitude if you found your mate and went to the Elders, they didn't retire you, just moved you with your mate and you did a new job, but you did so with your mate at your side." They wouldn't have let me keep Judy, had to run, he shook his head, his eyes glazed over, "It was complete coincidence that I even saw Adams mate, he didn't know I saw her... but I did." He grunted. "Then it hit me - I just knew, all those other people that said they were going to be with their mates, the Elders never approved of them having their mates. I could've seen reports of mates bones found and never knew it before," he twisted his face up. "When I found my Judy," following his hands against his chest, he shook his head, "I ran with her, I didn't tell those Elders... I knew better." Philip Pascal is as selfish as they come, I thought to myself, seeing his point of view on the one hand while still noting that I'm sure he never revealed to anyone his suspicion on what the Elders were doing. Wanting to know just how dowdy and unredeemable Philip truly was, I asked, "How many did you know that went to the Elders to be with their mates?" again keeping a blank mask on my face.