Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Alexander's POV:

There was something wrong that I couldn't really place a finger on. Everything around me seemed off, as gossip was spreading throughout the palace. I knew that gossip was the only thing that could contaminate the surroundings so much in the way things were right now. The contamination could be seen, felt, and sensed simply by the behavior of the people around.

They seemed to have some kind of growing distrust for the people in the palace, and the servants seemed to not be as happy serving as they had been before. Something was going wrong, and it was getting worse from the grassroots. I needed to find out what was happening if I was going to salvage the situation as quickly as possible. Somehow, I knew that it had to do with Nora. I didn't know why I felt that way, but I really felt she had some kind of connection to why everybody seemed to be hostile now and why they showed it in their actions.

I had met with one of the elders immediately after the meeting to ask about the cold attitude. It was kind of a strange practice for me, but I had done it once before, and it had ended up with me solving the issue with him before it arose and became something more than I could actually handle. I simply needed to meet with him and have a talk with this particular elder, just like the last time, and before long, the issue that was making him act so off would be resolved. Then I could easily continue doing my duties without the cold attitude to stop me.

However, this time around, there was something absolutely different. He seemed to be blowing me off, so I felt very surprised. I didn't push him to act if he didn't want to; I simply went around to meet someone else that I knew would actually listen to what I was saying and respond positively. The elder had a frown on his face as I called him to my chambers.

"What's up with your attitude today?" I asked him. "Why did you treat me and the Luna that way in the meeting?" I questioned. My voice was authoritative, but my words suggested otherwise. I wanted to simply hear what he had to say. I was open to hearing him out and having no voice in the complaints he had.

"Delina mentioned that she's acting a little weird," he said.

"I don't think she's too well," I told him in response, deciding to come up with an excuse for her since I didn't really have any idea what was going wrong myself.

He laughed, his voice a dry scoff. "She's not too well?" he said. "That's a perfect explanation."

I was glaring at him now. "And if she's not well?" I asked him. "What if she's acting strangely? What does that have to do with how you act in the meetings?" I asked him, trying to get him to open up and also trying to get him to start acting better towards her and everyone in general.

"Well, her acting strangely may be as a result of a shift," he said slowly, his words deliberate. He looked at me as I raised an eyebrow.

"What shift?" I questioned, my voice ringing. "What are you trying to suggest?"

"Well, I don't really know. It's just a suggestion, as you well know," he said, looking pointedly at me. "But I'm pretty sure it can be certain that for someone to suddenly be acting strangely, it's as a result of some hidden change—something that we don't quite know about yet."

His voice was cold as he said his last sentence. I could hardly believe my ears—he was accusing the Luna of colluding with enemies. Did he even know what he was saying? She would never do that; I knew that for certain. So why would he be so untrusting of her? Was this the first time he was talking with her in a meeting for him to act this way towards her? Was this the first time he was seeing her act a little off? I could clearly remember that he was one of the people who supported her getting into her current position—because if he hadn't been, there was no way she would be where she was now.

I frowned at him, somehow expecting him to see reason with me, but obviously that wasn't the case. As he was glaring at me now, he said, "You look into her attitude and get a hold on her before she does something drastic." The tone of his voice was simple but carried such a hidden meaning that I couldn't help but frown at his manner of talking.

"She's a ticking time bomb, and she might explode at any moment," he said. I could hardly understand what he was talking about.

"Tell me, did you see anything specific to make you think like this?" I asked him in an attempt to understand why he was talking this way.

He shook his head at me. "I mean, you should know better yourself," he said. "I expect you to know more than I do in this."

I was bemused, but I started to wonder whether he had seen my midnight outing. I didn't really see why he could act like this and be so sure of himself. Normally, he should simply be trying his best to figure out an excuse for her instead of trying to blame her the way he was now.

"I hope you understand what I said," he said, as if he was about to leave my room without permission. Was he disrespecting me because of her? I asked myself as I tried to make sense of why he was acting this way.

"If you would excuse me, I have things to do," he said. His manners were kicking in now, but I kept thinking about the people I needed to speak with. I felt incredibly angry with him for his way of talking and what he seemed to be implying. But I decided that it was a better idea to let him leave. If not, the bitterness within him would only continue to fester.

Best to let him leave and let him relax before it became something too much for me to handle myself. I made up my mind that although he would leave, I would consult someone else I trusted to know about the situation. I would simply need to find another elder, one that was a bit more approachable. With that thought in mind, I let him leave.

The interviews with the elders were not so intense, though some of them seemed to have less fixed views on the matter. This situation had been the best among them, as he seemed to actually be rather not so hateful towards her like the others had been. I made up my mind then that something was really wrong.

The tension that was present now would only carry on until the next meeting with the elders, and unless I rectified it, it was going to continue like that on and on in a kind of cycle. I hated the bitterness, as if she had done something to them, as if they had a grudge against her. It could be felt even by me. I needed to resolve it—if not, it would be best to let her not attend the meetings, but that was unheard of. The Luna always needed to attend pack meetings, and if anything, they would be the ones wanting me to attend since she outranks them all.

"I'll talk with her later," I thought to myself, though I had a nagging thought in my mind, a little feeling that I really knew what was wrong. My thought was one that kept me feeling a little depressed. I knew very much about the midnight outing just a night ago, and I was pretty certain about how my phone had gotten missing then. In other words, I was recording in the next sequence, but whoever had taken that phone sent the recording that I made myself, and now that recording was simply turning out to be a curse for me. We picked the evidence, so the recording was there to show, leading them to start doubting her, and any enemy she had could use that to their advantage.

I thought about Damon, my previously trusty advisor, who might really be the one. I knew the chances were that it was his fault that he had turned things against her with that video if he was the one who took my phone. But he shouldn't have been able to open it, as I had wiped it remotely. I found myself questioning how it might have come to this. Indeed, I had wiped it, but I knew that I needed to be very careful around him and that I needed to try to save the situation more than anything.

Sure, it could be absolutely nothing, but at the same time, I could have the reason for it. It would be foolish of me to ignore where the signs were leading, as my people were pointing so obviously at a particular target. I took a moment to think about what I would do to solve the problem that I was being faced with at this particular moment in time—a problem that one would consider simple, but now it was a lot more complicated with what was going on with the elders and how I couldn't bring myself to trust my own instincts.

If only I could get myself to understand her fully and also trust her, then and only then would I be able to fully act based on that trust and defend her. I would never have made that video if only I had actually trusted her. I was supposed to... I needed to prepare for the meeting that was taking place very soon if not I will not be able to contain the chaos that'd follow.