Chapter 133

Olivia

The weight of the revelations at Layla’s pack had settled in by the time we reached home.

The comforting familiarity of the villa was juxtaposed by the layers of unknown mysteries that now shadowed our thoughts.

Nathan paced, his fingers brushing his chin in thought while I sank down onto the couch.

“The historian… I have a couple of names that come to mind, but I’m not sure,” he mused.

“Who do you think?” I asked, cocking my head.

Nathan furrowed his brows as he thought. “Well, first I thought it might be Evelyn Meyes. But then, Evelyn’s always been fiercely loyal to my dad. Then, there’s Isabelle Frankfort... but she’s much younger than 83, so that doesn’t fit either.”

I listened, my mind wandering. Layla’s information was helpful, but unfortunately not helpful enough. It was bound to take some time to figure this all out, assuming the records even still existed.

“If this ‘Greta’ woman was as trustworthy as Layla claimed, there’s still the risk of the records being lost to time,” I said thoughtfully. “Maybe ‘Greta’ even left the pack at some point and brought the records with her.”

“That’s just the thing,” Nathan replied. “We don’t even know where to start.”

“What about the Elders?” I asked. “You said earlier that there are a couple who you might be able to trust.”

Nathan nodded slowly. “Yeah. I guess I’ll have to talk to Elder Mingan if I can get some time alone with her. But… I don’t know, Olivia. It still makes me nervous.”

There was a brief silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts. The Elders, while an enigma of their own that was separate from the Alphas, still had their own agendas. Even Elder Mingan, the oldest of the Elders, might have been secretly loyal to Colin. We had no way of knowing.

Exhausted, Nathan sank down onto the couch beside me and let out a tired breath.

“Maybe we’ve hit a dead end,” he sighed, sounding defeated.

“Come on, Nathan,” I replied. “Don’t get yourself down so easily. The hunt has only just begun.”

Nathan shook his head. “We can’t really trust anyone, though,” he muttered. “If my dad found out that we were snooping around because of distrust in him, it would be bad. He’d put you in confinement, that’s for sure. I don’t want to risk that.”

As Nathan spoke, my heart sank a little. He was right: it was only yesterday, after all, that Colin threatened to put me in confinement. We were playing a dangerous game, with ambiguous results.

Even if we found some sort of historical information on Nathan’s family and the pack’s history, it might lead nowhere and still wind up with negative consequences.

“Maybe we should just drop it,” he said. “I know my dad is up to something, but he’s always been like that. Maybe we can find another route, I don’t know. But it feels as though the cards are against us. Even if we did find proof of something sinister going on, what would we even do with it?”

“We could show the police,” I said quietly. “They’re legally not allowed to align specifically with or against the Council. They’re their own entity.”

Nathan let out a wry chuckle. “That’s bullshit,” he croaked, rubbing his tired eyes. “There’s only one officer who I can think of that is actually neutral and not being influenced behind the scenes, and that’s the officer who invited you back to the pack. No offense, but he’s not the brightest, either.”

“I disagree,” I said, sitting up. “One ally is better than none. If we can present him with proof that something evil is happening, then…”

“Then what?” Nathan asked curtly. “He can’t arrest my dad on his own. Hell, we don’t even know if there’s anything to arrest my dad for! The most we’ve gathered is that his relationship with my adoptive sister is weird. That’s nothing worth arresting someone over. They’re not related, and they’re both legally adults. It’s weird and gross if it’s true, but it’s not illegal.”

“What about your mom?” I asked. “She’s gone radio silent—”

“Yeah, for one day,” Nathan said, his tone almost indicating that he was trying to convince himself more than me. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

With that, Nathan stood and walked out of the room. I could tell that my words had upset him, that they had sparked the fires of unease inside of him. In the kitchen, he began banging around, preparing dinner.

I sat in the living room for a while, my brow furrowed as I thought about the situation. Nathan was right, to an extent: even if we did find vital information, whatever that may be, what would we even do with it?

However, I wasn’t convinced that the strange behavior ended with Colin and Jenifer. My father’s untimely eviction was proof of that. I had always been convinced that Colin wrongfully evicted us, and that there was something sinister about it. My dad never talked much about it, but I just knew.

But then, I suddenly thought of my aunt. She had never been politically outspoken in pack affairs, choosing to stay neutral. But I had always felt that silence was its own form of statement.

I quickly jumped up off of the couch and ran into the kitchen, standing in the doorway. Nathan was standing over the stove, watching a pot of water boil with his arms folded tightly across his chest.

“What if...” I began hesitantly, “this ‘Greta’ person is closer than we thought?”

Nathan turned to face me and frowned. “Go on.”

“My aunt comes to mind. I don’t know if she was really loyal to Colin or not. We never discussed pack politics. But, remember she left me the villa even when I was evicted? Doesn’t that gesture alone suggest she wasn’t blindly loyal to your father? Maybe she knew Greta, at the very least. Remember how she always had strange visitors here?”

He looked thoughtful for a moment. “It's possible. But she’s dead, Olivia. It’s not like we can talk to her, you know?”

I let out a sigh and rubbed my eyes, leaning against the doorframe. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

Another dead end. Maybe Nathan was right, after all. Maybe it was best to just let it go and stay out of it.

But I couldn’t get my aunt out of my mind. She was a strange, eclectic woman. She didn’t talk much, and had a strange array of ‘friends’.

I remembered how they would lock themselves in the kitchen for hours and talk about stuff that I didn’t understand. I wasn’t allowed to come into the room, but I remembered eavesdropping, and overhearing snippets of conversations about ‘resistance’ and ‘power’.

Just then, a memory nudged at the back of my mind. My aunt’s figure, retreating into a room that I was never allowed into…

“Hold on,” I exclaimed, quickly pushing myself away from the wall and heading towards the basement door, as though guided by invisible strings. I could hear Nathan’s footsteps behind me, his confusion palpable.

“Olivia? What are you doing?” He asked, reaching for my arm to halt me.

“I just remembered something,” I panted, almost out of breath from the rush of memories and the dash to the door.

I threw it open, revealing the dimly lit stairs leading down to the basement.