赤裸裸的滑稽故事

“What did you find out?” Caleb asked as Axel entered the room.

They had agreed to meet in one of the old scout shelters in the forests to the northeast of Summer. It was a neutral territory between lesser packs.

“It was Shadowcrest,” Axel sighed. Dropping his bag on the ground. “They were one of the ones reported by your scout. Saul checked. There was another body pit, with fewer dead than before but no

children. So it seems likely they were the other pack with Whiteridge.”

Caleb sighed.

“Hallowed is gone,” Caleb said. “I sent my scout back. He found a pit as well, it was far from the settlement, and unfortunately, he found the entire pack.”

Caleb had a grim look that Axel understood all too well.

“Lone Rock as well, Saul confirmed it,” Axel replied regrettably, sitting down in the chair opposite Caleb. “I told him to take a break after that one. He has a baby at home. He shouldn’t have had to see that.”

Caleb rested his forehead in his hand, rubbing his temples as he felt a headache coming on.

Four packs dead. Children from two of them missing. How had this happened?

“That leaves Stone Garden, Riptide, and Darkmaw,” Axel continued. “I checked Stone Garden myself. Unfortunately, or maybe, fortunately, the only gravesite I found belonged to the pack.”

“I have a scout headed to Riptide. We should hear something in the next day or two. We already checked Darkmaw,” Caleb said. “Same thing. No fresh graves, no pit, no sign of the pack.”

“How does Darkmaw just disappear?” Axel growled. Frustrated, he slouched down into his chair. “That pack has more than two hundred and fifty wolves!”_.

“There’s something else you need to know,” Caleb said.

Axel sat up, resting his hands on the table.

“Since the first rogue attacks, something has been off between the major packs.”

“You mean other than the normal animosity and old hatreds?” Axel scoffed.

“More than that,” Caleb sighed. “The first rogue attack on Winter happened before all the others, and it was the only one where wolfsbane was used.”

“What?” Axel asked, sitting up even straighter. “No, that’s not… I read the reports, all the attacks happened simultaneously, and all reported wolfsbane. Including Summer!”

“Axel,” Caleb said, sitting forward and keeping eye contact with him. “The first I ever heard of wolfsbane being used in the attacks was when I saw the scar on Ashleigh’s arm.”

Axel furrowed his brows; he shook his head with a scoff.

“That… that doesn’t make sense.”

“The attack in Summer was at night. From what Ashleigh told me, yours was in the afternoon. But the reports I received claimed all the attacks were at night, and there was no wolfsbane,” Caleb said.

“So… you’re saying that the reports… were fake?” Axel asked.

“Exactly,” Caleb replied. “What we each received was different from what happened. Which means that one of the others changed the reports.”

“Son of a b–”

“That’s not all,” Caleb continued. “Before the Fae attack, I got a report from some of my scouts near Autumn.”

“Your scouts near Autumn?” Axel asked. “Do you just always keep scouts looking in on other packs?”

“I do when those other packs falsify reports and hide information about wolfsbane and rogue attacks,” Caleb growled.

Axel clenched his jaw.

“My apologies,” Axel said.

“These scouts,” Caleb continued, ignoring the interruption. “Brought me a report about Autumn. I should have investigated it immediately, but I got a tip that Winter was in danger.”

“A tip?” Axel asked. “From who?”

“I can’t say.”

“The hell you can’t!” Axel growled, standing from his chair. “Someone knew that there was a Fae attack on Winter, and you’re protecting them. After all the lives we lost?”

“I’m not protecting them. They had nothing to do with it. They didn’t even know it was Fae.”

“Then what did they know? And how?”

“All they could tell me was that there would be an attack on Winter. I didn’t need to know anything else.”

“How do you know they weren’t part of it?”

“This person is… unique. I don’t fully trust them, but they have proven themselves,” Caleb replied. “If I’m being honest, that was the first time they contacted me like that. And I did wonder if I should question it. Still, my own scouts confirmed unusual movement in Winter territory, and I ran for the door.”

“But you know who they are?” Axel asked. “You don’t fully trust them, but you trust them enough to keep their identity secret?”

“They haven’t done anything to make me question them. I wouldn’t say I trust them, exactly. This is not an innocent person by any means.

“However, I don’t believe they intend to harm anyone… but they follow orders they don’t agree with.”

Axel looked away.

‘It sounds like her,” he thought with a bitterness he didn’t care for.

He wanted her to have reached out to him, but he knew he wouldn’t have reacted the same way Caleb did.

How could he trust a voice in the dark? No, what he trusted, what he believed in, were those chocolate eyes that haunted him. The far-off look inside of them called to him.

“That isn’t what matters right now anyway,” Caleb continued. “What matters is the reports I received about Autumn.”

“And what did those say?” Axel asked, feeling irritated by all the new information. Then, finally, he moved to sit back down again.

“Autumn has been taking in wolves from lesser packs.”

“What?!” Axel shouted, rising up from his chair once again. “For how long? How many?”

“At the time, it was a few here and there and at least one large group. But not whole packs,” Caleb replied. “As I said, I should have looked into it sooner.”

“Looked into it? You should have told us!” Axel snarled. “You should have told us about the reports, about the warning! All of it!”

Axel slammed his fist on the table.

Caleb clenched his jaw as he felt the power coming off Axel. It wasn’t enough to sway Caleb or make him submit, but the new Alpha had grown stronger quickly.

He suddenly remembered the power Ashleigh had been able to draw on when she confronted Holden at Axel’s ceremony.

“Always lies…” Axel sighed between gritted teeth as he hung his head. “Everywhere.”

“What?” Caleb asked, confused by Axel’s words as his thoughts were interrupted.

Axel looked up at Caleb, a faint glow around his eyes.

“Why are there so many of you?” Axel asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“You lie all the time. About family, about love, about the things you say and do,” Axel sighed. “Why is no one honest?”

“At times, it is more important to maintain peace than maintain trust.”

“No,” Axel said, shaking his head softly. “It’s not.”

Axel pushed away from the table.

“Maintaining peace starts by maintaining trust. Lies are the catalyst of war,” Axel said as he reached down for the bag he had dropped as he entered the building.

“Have you never lied?” Caleb asked with a raised eyebrow and a look of annoyance.

“I have,” Axel said. “I thought it was to protect someone I care about. But I realize now that it probably was for nothing. Telling the truth would have kept her protected, possibly even given her a better life.”

He hoisted the bag over his shoulder.

“The lie just made more problems for everyone else I love.”

“You had to have a reason to start the lie,” Caleb said reassuringly. “You couldn’t have known it wasn’t the right decision.”

Axel chuckled as he turned to leave the room.

“I didn’t start the lie; I was just following orders.”