Chapter 116

Grace

"Because it's true."

I cringed at the sound of the words coming out of my mouth. It was a hard thing to understand how I could say that and mean it even as I doubted it. Even as my mind kept showing me images of a casket just like our fathers with Eason inside.

She tilted her head. "Why do you believe it's true?"

"Because..." I swallowed. "Because it's... It's obvious. He stepped into the role so easily. H-He was here when I wasn't, and everyone respected him so easily. They still do."

I could hear Eason scoffing as if he was right here.

I looked down into my coffee cup. "If Eason was still running the pack, we wouldn't even be having this conversation... You'd be his assistant."

She scoffed. "Probably, but none of that is a reason. You say it's obvious, but I've never seen Eason even look remotely like he'd rather just take over."

I scoffed. "You don't know the real Eason..."

"Do you believe that his being missing is just a ploy?" She asked.

I set my jaw. My stomach churned. I wanted to say yes. I wanted to believe it. I wanted it to be true.

"Why is accepting betrayal easier for you than accepting your mistakes?"

I set my jaw. There were hard, angry words I wanted to say, but I couldn't get them out. They seemed to fizzle out and die in before I could say them, so I swallowed and said something else.

"I have every reason to believe it based on everything he's done."

Amira lifted a shoulder. "Alright."

She stood and turned back to the laptop, and slid it towards me.

"I'm not my brother, you're not my mother, and we don't have time to ask a bunch of questions. So we're doing it my way. Everything you cited against Eason, you're going to spend the next ten minutes fact-checking."

I blinked. "This is hardly the time--"

"No, it's the perfect time," Amira said. "Eason was right. You’re so used to being allowed to get away with whatever that you don’t even recognize it. You’re the alpha now, and that doesn’t just mean doing what you want. It means being accountable for everything: what you do, what you don’t, what you don’t know, and everything else in between. Until you have hard facts in front of you, you're not going to budge on anything, but you aren't going to go look for those hard facts either unless you're forced."

I scoffed. "So you're going to force me? With what power?"

She smiled. "I'm going to be married to an Enforcer. I am one of the few people who can get out of the city, and I will leave you here."

My eyes widened as I stared at her. "After everything--"

"You asked me to stay, and I stayed because I believe that you were trying to do the right thing. That you meant it when you said that you were going to try and fix your mistakes, but there's nothing right about deciding to stay in denial. There's nothing right about running and blaming everyone else when it's your responsibility. There is nothing right about being comfortable being an entitled, spoiled, little brat.”

“Hey—”

“And the first step to fixing that problem is for you to see that problem The longer you have any wiggle room to doubt, the longer you'll focus on the wrong thing. If you don't get your head out of your ass, we're all going to die." Amira narrowed her eyes. "We need everyone using their head to the best of their ability, including you--actually, especially you, Alpha Wolfe."

I stared at her. She crossed her arms with a cocked eyebrow.

"I'm waiting for your decision, Alpha Wolfe."

I set my jaw. My hands shook.

“You have a lot of nerve.”

“I know, it’s why I’m a great assistant. Your answer?”

I grit my teeth and glared at her. Her eyes were steady, patient, and waiting like she knew that I would agree with her. Like she knew she was right, and there was nothing I could say to change her mind. To be fair, what could I say? Could I fire her?

You'll have no one, and you'll have no one to blame yourself.

"And if you’re wrong?” I narrowed my eyes. “If Eason has actually betrayed me?”

"Then, Goddess, help Eason because Charles is big and fucking scary."

My lips twitched. I set my coffee cup down.

"And if it's not true?" I looked up at her. "Are you going to take the fastest path out of Mooncrest?"

She smirked. "When you pull your head out of your ass, I'll be helping you get ready for your speech and standing in the middle of the city square while you give it at the end of the week."

My heart was pounding in my chest. Her eyes were steady, clear, and honest. She meant it. Somehow, that made my chest feel less tight.

You can't handle the truth.

Eason's voice was in my mind again. His words echoed in my mind, whispering, pulling, beating me down, freezing my hands, yet it was Amira's voice that made me start moving.

Why is accepting betrayal easier for you than accepting your mistakes?

Did one just hurt so much more than the other? Was there something wrong with me that I just wanted everything to be a betrayal?

Was I just like Amira's mother and just unwilling to see it?

I didn't know, but Amira was here, and somehow, that made it easier to start looking.

I started with Eason's birth records and citizenship. I couldn't find his profile. I looked and looked, but there wasn't even a Mooncrest hospital record. The only thing marking Eason as even present in Mooncrest was a request for a visitation visa from Selene a few months ago. My gut churned. Eason hadn't been lying. I looked for his business registration, and I had to go to the State-wide registration, but it wasn't there either.

Eason had only been in Mooncrest a few months... literally a mere week before my divorce from Devin.

I swallowed thickly and kept looking through the Shared Drive for the pamphlets. I remembered giving the speech and answering a few questions, but I had never even looked at the pamphlets. I opened them and could have cried at the photo he'd used for the cover.

It was me. I don't even remember where it could have been from, but there in big letters was my name.

Alpha Grace Wolfe of Mooncrest

There wasn't a mention of him. The photos of Mooncrest's amenities and the legacy of the Wolfe Family as alphas of Mooncrest were all spun and polished. We looked like the shining beacon that my father and his father always believed we and Wolfe Medical could be. My eyes burned.

I went to the Mooncrest Pack's profile with the Inter-Pack Police and the Pack Registry. It had all been redone. I recognized Eason's voice, his flair for story-telling in every word about Mooncrest.

Amira had a profile as my official assistant. Devin was nowhere. Eason was nowhere, not even in the archives. I went looking for documents from the time he was acting alpha, and I couldn't hold it back anymore.

Stamped with the alpha seal and signed on my behalf.

Alpha Proxy Wolfe, signing for Alpha Grace Wolfe

He'd even filed the documentation for being my proxy while I had been in college. The documents I had signed for Devin to turn over were in the folder, too. I pulled up the police reports related to him from the Inter-Pack Police and wiped my face. The timeline was clear. Eason had been living in other packs for a while before leaving Silver Eclipse and headed for Selene.

He'd never finished the degree he was supposed to be getting at Northfall.

I opened his profile, which was part of the Border Control Registry. Eason's photo stared back at me with a blank, tired expression. His only higher education had been from a witch university that partnered with a human community college.

A.A. in Marketing and Communication

I closed the laptop, sobbing and shoving it away from me. Every word I'd said, every accusation and moment of doubt shattered and ripped me to shreds on the inside. I felt hollow and stupid and more of a traitor than I had ever believed of him.

Amira wrapped her arms around me and stroked my hair. I heard her murmuring to me, trying to soothe me, but I couldn't stop crying. It felt like hours, but it couldn't have been before my tears ran dry, and I was silent, leaning against her.

"Your mom..." I gasped. My throat was dry. "How did she... What happened after?"

"He put her in therapy and adult education classes." I looked up at her as she grinned. "And she's quite happy to report to him every time her bank account goes up at the end of the month."

My lips twitched. "That would be nice."

"I'll give you her number. She can coupon and grocery shop like no one's business these days..." She nodded towards the laptop. "But I have a feeling that you're going to be too busy telling Blood Moon to fuck off to clip coupons."

I chuckled and nodded. "The speech?"

"You've got a few minutes."

I winced. "But... nothing to say."

She scoffed and pulled Eason's laptop towards us. She typed in a password. My eyes widened.

"Since when did you have his password?"

"He said it was for the best," she said as she opened the document. "In case I needed something."

I turned to look, skimming over the words on the screen. From the look of it, he'd finished it before he left. Maybe he'd been polishing it right when Charles had called me.

It sounded so much like something I should say, something a stronger version of me would say. Was that how Eason saw me?

I took a deep breath as Amira started to turn on the broadcasting system.

"Are you ready?" Amira asked.

I swallowed, glancing at the speech, and nodded.

"I'm ready."