Alpha George turned quiet as though silence would satisfy the curiosity of the Elders who were watching every twitch on his face. At last, when silence did not answer the question, Alpha George spoke.
“This is ridiculous!”
“Answer the question, Alpha George. Why does it say here that you had three older brothers and the one who ascended the throne upon your father's death is Robin?”
“Reuben,” Alpha George said in a soft voice, taking his time to look everyone in the room in the eye. It was unfortunate though because we all had an extra dose of some potion a priestess had given us so we would not be susceptible to dark magic.
He scoffed when he realized that whatever stunt he had just tried to pull had no effect.
“I have no idea what you're talking about. I never had a brother by that name,” he was insistent but he had the confidence to be. Even without his hypnotic stare working, there was no record of a Robin that ever lived in his pack, not even among the common people. I knew that because the Elders had asked for my sleuthing abilities to sniff out a man named Robin. The problem was Alpha George had been too thorough.
If he had left a couple of people with the name of his older brother there would be no reason to suspect anything. But an entire pack made up of nearly a million people and none of them had the name Robin? That had intrigued the Elders. Before my discovery, they had thought it had been a recording mistake but given the absence of the name in his pack, the Elders had suspected he had taken out any trace of a Robin in the pack.
“According to our file here, Robin existed at some point because he and his bride took an oath before the Council of Elders on their coronation day,” pointed out Lord Thaddeus.
Alpha George gave his hard stare again but it was clearly not working so he said in frustration, “Reuben was sometimes called Robin. It's a recording error and Reuben did take a bride from the Dark Moon pack.”
I saw Elder Walker's lips wrinkle into a small smile. Alpha George had just made a fatal mistake_ he had begun to overshare, a common sign of guilt.
“Anything else you would like to add, Alpha George?” questioned Elder Davis.
I loved these old men when they were not after my neck. They might have lived many years but they were far from being senile. They knew how to stew one for the truth.
“What else do you want to know? Why do you want me to relive the pain of losing my family?” he was angry and judging from the way his hands were held in a tight fist, he was frustrated.
“We apologize if this is causing you emotional strain but we need answers, Alpha George,” Elder Walker's voice was soft and did not at all sound accusatory.
“Why? Because you think I killed them to get the throne?” I shook my head inwardly. Why did he have to manifest all the attributes of a guilty person? The only thing that told me was that he had relied too much on his magic, that he had not prepared a plan in case they failed. The other alternative which was highly unlikely was that he was not guilty at all and we were indeed making him relive his pain.
“That is one possibility but it is possible that someone is performing rituals and using dark magic to…”
“That is nonsense!” He seemed extremely uncomfortable at the mention of dark magic.
“Alpha George?”
“Reuben never ascended the throne. He was married with no children before his death. I never had a brother named Robin,” replied Alpha George.
His face was extremely red like he knew he had been caught in his lie and nothing he said now would make any difference.
“Alpha Raphael? As a witness, do you have any thoughts you would like to share?” asked Elder Thaddeus.
Alpha Raphael cleared his throat in that fashionable way of his and said, “Alpha George, the Blood Moon pack used to be very wealthy. In fact, it could compare to mine in terms of resources. How do you account for the sudden poverty that has swept your pack?”
“Poverty?”
“You must be aware that many of your citizens who do not fall under the noble class are languishing in poverty. It seems that while your court is getting richer, the common people are getting poorer.”
“I have never taxed my people more than they can bear. I am not the god of wealth, I do not…”
“In essence as leader of your pack, you are not responsible for the crisis that happens in your pack?” asked Alpha Raphael.
“There is no crisis on…”
“No crisis? The common people starving does not count as a crisis. What would then? The epidemic that happened north of your pack that killed thousands or the…”
“Those are all internal problems and I have my ministers dealing with them. My pack is going through a phase and it will be…”
“Alpha Dagen, do you have any thoughts you would like to share?” Elder Thaddeus asked me, not bothering to allow Alpha George to finish his rant.
“Not at all. I believe we have all we need to make a decision,” was my response.
Alpha George looked at me with a threatening gaze but he had the wrong person. I was not someone he could threaten with a stare. He would have to do better than _our fates are intertwined_ to command my attention.
“In that case, there is no need to dwell on the matter any further, Alpha George, the Council of Elders formally ask for your cooperation to investigate the Blood Moon pack,” said Elder Walker.
Alpha George did not take this news well. He looked like he was going to fly across the table and punch somebody in the face.