Chapter 58 - Occam's Razor

"Don't even go there. It gets even more complicated. There are these things called credit scores that prequalify for your loans like that. Now, unless you have anyone here that uses credit cards, or has bought a car or a house before, or sons of some rich business mogul, you can forget about that."

"I see" he replied, still tapping the pen lightly on the desk. "And there's no way that you could-" he pointed to me.

I succeeded in holding my laughter this time. "Me? I wish. Aside from my credit scores being just a bit alright enough to cover financing a car at 8% APR, house payments like that usually require a 10% or 20% down payment. Which means worst case, I still have to cough up $160,000. And the interest would be insane. Don't even get me started-"

Harris had listened to enough.

"The only option is still to move" I reminded him. I'm sure there's a patch somewhere in Canada where nobody would bother the pack for a few years."

The conversation had turned him Laconic. His witty smile and warm gestures were absent, only an eternal expression of what I thought was curiosity.

"We can't move, Naomi"

"I'd like to know why. Your risk is incredible. Even that estate officer could wake up at any minute?" I elaborated.

Harris shifted unusually in his seat. "There is a traitor in our midst" he replied finally, still maintaining eye contact.

"What?"

"I know you heard me, Naomi"

"I did, but I can't just believe-"

"How do you think we lost so many of our travelling up and down about the country? We were ambushed, not a chance skirmish" he explained.

"Do the others know about this?" I asked, swinging in my head about the room, craning my ears to listen for any movements outside the door.

"Why would I tell them? I don't yet know who the traitor is, could be anybody. From the smallest foundling to the eldest Council member" explained Harris coolly.

"And me?"

"I think you know the answer to that. You only just returned to us now. The chances of it being you, though not quite zero, are still very slim. I suppose I have to take that chance"

"Are you absolutely sure-" I started.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" he said, getting annoyed. "I knew it from the very first day, our first warrior group didn't return. They were some of my most elite men. It would have been easier to swallow that the sky was falling than that they fell so easily"

"If there's a traitor, who's the enemy?" I asked.

"Excellent question, Naomi. This is why you're the smartest of Us" he said, though I was certain he meant it sardonically.

"Do you believe in magic?" he asked, out of the blue. As a Werewolf Professor, teaching in a university about mythical creatures, it was a fascinating but difficult question to answer.

"To the humans, our very existence is the stuff of magic"

"That doesn't answer my question" he sounded impatient.

I paused to think. "I don't have enough data to have an opinion. It could very well exist or not"

"It does. Magic exists, Naomi. And by relation, curses do too."

"Curses?"

"Do you remember the slaughter I told you about? The great war that was coming?" he asked me. I nodded.

"I saw something back in Winnipeg. Something disturbing-" He trailed off. "But maybe we should table this discussion for another time," he said abruptly. I threw my hands in the complaint.

"But at least you know the situation now. We cannot move. If we do, the traitor will strike again, and more of us will crumble. We need another solution."

"I'm not sure I can help then. I'm not rich by any means" I explained.

"We're going to have to find a way to come up with the money somehow" he stroked his chin.

"Unless you want to rob a bank" I joked. He turned to me.

"Will that work?" he asked seriously.

"What? No! Unless you want to end up killing more people" I protested.

He cocked his head towards the direction of the door, and called out: "Come in" There was a pause, and the door swung open. I didn't hear the knock myself. It was Jeremiah.

"How long have you been listening?" asked Harris. "Be careful, how you answer."

What did that mean?

"Since you said we have to come up with the money somehow" confessed Jeremiah, but he didn't look sorry in the least.

"Then explain to me why you were eavesdropping on a private conversation of your Alpha? Also, your answer needs to justify why I don't send you out of the pack effective immediately" said Harris in a soft, but serious voice. Weren't those two supposed to be brothers? The hostility was mighty in the air.

Jeremiah cleared his throat. "I have no excuses. I originally came up here to discuss how we should handle the human outside, but when I heard you were already on the subject, I made to leave."

"And that is the truth?"

"It is" replied Jeremiah. They both stared at each other defiantly.

Harris beckoned to him. "I will think of your punishment later. In the meantime, tell me your opinion on the human outside."

"Oh, I didn't mean to-"

"Do it! You have already intruded into the delicate conversation. You might as well speak your mind" explained Harris.

Jeremiah walked closer, keeping sparse eye contact with me. "As for the humans outside, Alpha Harris" he started "I think the solution is quite simple. We should just kill her" he finished. I looked to Alpha Harris to immediately say something, but he pressed a finger over his lips to silence me. How effective he was at doing that.

"And her friends and colleagues and the Accords? How do we handle that?" He asked Jeremiah.