38. Aiden
38
Aiden
“Alpha?” Daniel’s face grows pale, though his expression doesn’t twitch at all. “I’m sorry, Your Grace. I’m not following.”
My hand cups under the teacup, soaking in the warmth from the ceramic while I try to calm my emotions. I don’t take well to lying. I never have. Most likely a by-product of always having shifters, namely from neighboring packs, try to bullshit my father more times than I can count.
It always irked me back then when I’d sit in on meetings to learn, the obviousness with which these pack alphas would try to pull one over on us while begging for help with one thing or another. As regents with over fifty packs under the crown, there were many things that needed to be constantly looked after, and the health of the packs under us would always be one of them.
However, some pack alphas tended to be greedier than others, asking for aid while actively hoarding resources and chasing off any other packs trying to just survive our winter months.
Daniel reminds me of those same alphas—stingy and selfish.
Delilah’s words ring in my head loudly: don’t trust what he says. It’s all a lie.
Glancing over at Constance, she catches my silent hint and grabs the bag she brought with her. Pulling out the intel our enforcers gathered, she splays it on the coffee table in a neat set of rows, each individual page crisp and flat.
“As indicated here, you had a visitor not too long ago. For forty-five minutes a foreign southern pack was on your doorstep before leaving and staying in a neighboring town a few hours from here for almost a week. Who were they?”
Daniel stares down at the papers, his entire body stone aside from his gaze wavering slightly as it darts over each page.
All of us wait again, the silence heavy.
Daniel coming to my Pollis had been a surprise, and the bombshell he’d brought along with him even more so. My mind had been reeling so hard that I never got the chance to actually sit down and study this male, but now that I can, a sickening twist curls in my gut.
Raine’s begging and pleading for me to listen to her as I read that letter she’d written to me, Delilah’s insistence that it was forged…
Could all of that really be true?
“They were lost,” Daniel finally says. “Traveling through on their way back to the Southern Lands.”
My brows rise. “They came from the southern border straight to your pack.”
He nods, lifting his eyes up from the papers. “Yes. Their alpha told me that they were searching for another pack but had gotten lost trying to find them. I told them that they weren’t welcome here and sent them off. I’m not sure what pack they were looking for or for what purpose.”
Balancing my teacup on my knee, I shift back into my chair and consider him for a moment. If all of that is true, why not notify the other local packs to figure out which one had summoned them?
Why hide it like a dirty secret?
Constance digs a map out of her bag and unfolds it on her lap, pen in hand. “What packs are around here?”
Daniel lists off a few within a ten-mile radius on either side of his lands with no hesitation at all. She jots them down, marking off vague packlines and where certain territories are most likely located.
“What did they say when they arrived?” I ask.
Daniel turns back to me. “Nothing really. My border patrol caught them trying to cross and tried to turn them away, but their alpha insisted on meeting with me. My border patrol thought that was really strange, so only a few of them were let in to meet with me. After my border patrol explained what happened, I spoke with the pack alpha.”
“And his name was…?” I prompt.
“A male named Peter. He was cagey with the name of his pack, along with the business he had in coming over here. It made me nervous, so I sent them all away. Usually I let packs spend some time here to recuperate from the long journey, as we’re pretty out of the way, but I felt uncomfortable doing so with how strange they were all acting.”
That doesn’t explain why Delilah insisted that Raine was sold as a breeder.
An illegal transaction had clearly taken place, if I’m to believe even an ounce of this story. Whatever “business” Daniel is trying to elude to not being a part of, it’s obviously the sale of Raine.
Clearly none of that was handled with the proper care, and that’s why he’s sweating over me finding out. Breeders, while rare, aren’t illegal. However, not going through the proper channels is. Whatever had been exchanged for Raine must’ve been something Daniel couldn’t pass up.
Why else would he sell her? Especially with her being pregnant.
My stomach sinks. Unless…she lost the baby.
And the disgrace and fallout from it had caused her alpha to lash out and sell her. Or caused the baby’s true father to ask Daniel to sell her, and he’d simply agreed to it.
I’m tempted to tell Daniel I know about Raine, just to see him squirm and try to explain that away, but it could jeopardize Delilah immensely. With her as my only true insight into this pack, I can’t let it slip that I’m in possession of that knowledge until I can guarantee her safety.
What’s stopping Daniel from selling her off too once I’m gone? I have no legal claims to her since she isn’t from my pack. It would be a long and strenuous battle trying to fight for legal rights over her and by then, I’m sure Daniel will have gotten rid of her.
Shit.
“Why did they stay in the North for a week if you sent them away?” Camden asks.
Daniel shakes his head. “I wasn’t aware that they did. Peter was pretty eager to leave after I threatened to get our alpha king involved, so I assumed he went back down south. It’s my mistake for not following up. But you have to understand, I was doing what I felt was best for the pack.”
“You should’ve contacted me,” I tell him.
“Yes, I know. Forgive me, Your Grace. I simply didn’t want to bother you with something that I thought I handled.”
I sigh.
There’s more to the story here, but clearly my digging isn’t going to get any further than this. He’s sticking to his story and without me throwing Delilah under the bus, there’s no way for me to actually get him to admit to anything regarding Raine.
Perhaps I can get Delilah to talk to her packmates and get some deeper insight without blowing her cover.
“Well.” I lean forward and set my cup down on the edge of the coffee table. “Thank you for the hospitality.”
Daniel’s body immediately relaxes. “Leaving so soon, Your Grace? That’s a shame. Hopefully I’ve answered all of your questions.”
I stand, along with Camden and Constance. “Since we’ll need to talk to the other packs in the area to figure out the Southern pack’s reason for coming into my territory, we’ll be using Andromeda as our base camp for the time being.”
“B-Base camp?” Daniel sputters.
“Do you have a problem with that?”
He immediately shakes his head. “No, Your Grace. Not at all.”
Inwardly, I smile at how panicked he looks. “Good. Have your packmates set up dwelling quarters for my companions and me, then.”
“O-Of course, Your Grace.”