CHAPTER 161: INTERROGATION AT THE COUNCIL

"Alpha Sokolov, do you have something to say?" On the other side, in a large chamber, twenty or so men were looking at Killian with the same contemptous gaze.

Killian raised his head and looked at the old man who was sitting at the circular table, his bald pate shining under the lights, and he was glaring at Killian as if Killian had snatched his daughter from him. Something he might have done; he wasn’t sure about it.

He said, "Of course, I do. Do you really expect me to accept this one-sided criticism?" With his fingers interlocked, Killian leaned forward on the table and looked at the elders of the council, all of them looking at him pointedly as if they wished to find a flaw in his stance.

"What is one-sided about this entire report?" said another elder. With his majestic bread that dangled all the way to the floor, he said to Killian, "It seemed quite clear from Noah’s report that you failed in keeping an eye on things, and a lycan from your very own pack hid away a rather valuable good."

"Do you even understand what kind of loss your pack has made the council suffer?!"

Killian remained unfazed even when the rest of the elders banged their fists on the surface of the table, agreeing with what the man had said.

He waited for the applause to subside before Killian pursed his lips and leaned back in his chair. Once the hall fell silent, Killian parted his lips and spoke in a steady and stern voice, "First of all, the siren was a living, breathing creature with her own sentience. No matter how valuable her body might be to the council or the shifters, you cannot just classify her as a good to be used. If not, then what is the difference between the shifters who had used the outcast in the past and us? With what right did you condemn them when you are doing the same, Norman?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Norman flushed red. He gasped for air, feeling humiliated and embarrassed, for he could not believe that a man as young as Killian had refuted him in such a manner.

Clenching his fingers tightly, he said to Killian, "Be that as it may, it doesn’t change the fact that you didn’t keep an eye on your pack members, which led the council to suffer a loss. If we had captured the siren before she met with that man, then she would have been useful for the council and the shifters. What do you have to say about that slight on your part?"

"Don’t tell me that you have an excuse prepared for this, too?" Norman added with a sly grin, which brought smiles to the lips of many elders.

Even the ever stoic Noah smiled because they all believed that they had cornered Killian.

"No, I don’t have an excuse for that slight," Killian offered with a smile. However, before the final verdict could be passed, he added in a steady voice, "However, I do have a rather peculiar question, Norman. The one that I have been trying to suppress. The sudden disappearances of the fox shifters from your pack. I wonder how much of a steady and wise leader you are if you failed to relay these disappearances of your shifters to the council."

There was a very nasty silence as everyone slowly turned to look at Norman. Seth, the head of the council, slowly turned to look at Norman. The man, though young-looking with a small stature, was the head of the dragon shifters and the only dragon who was able to survive past the age of four hundred.

With his mint green hair and blue eyes, the man looked fairly cute, but when he addressed Norman, the man trembled from his fluffy beard to his toes, "Is this true?" Seth asked in a voice so deep that it seemed like it was coming from the pits of hell. "Are fox shifters disappearing from your pack?"

"In response to the head...head of the seat... I wanted to tell the council about these disappearances, but I hoped that I would find these foxes before resorting to such severe means."

"But I think that these foxes have been missing for months?" Killian spoke with an innocent expression, making the fox shifter glare at him.

He wondered how Killian found out about the disappearances of the foxes in his pack and whether there was a traitor in his pack who relayed such sensitive information to Killian.

Seth inhaled sharply. What else was there to understand?

"The meeting is adjourned. Norman, you need to submit a report and the portraits of the foxes who have disappeared before the weekend."

As soon as Seth announced his decision, the elders turned outraged and even Norman couldn’t stop himself from speaking, "But Head of the council—"

"If you have something to say against my decision, then make sure that your own tails are squeaky clean," Seth spoke in a threatening voice. He then turned to look at Killian before asking him, "I believe that you have a lot more information than just this piece."

The man didn’t agree or deny, but everyone took his silence as a concession.

The elders who were making a ruckus calmed down and sat back on their seats while silently watching Seth clear Killian of all the charges that they had put on his head. Though most of them were livid, they had no choice but to accept the decision because if they didn’t, then Killian might drag them through the mud as well.

"Killian, come to my office later," Seth said to Killian as he got down from the high chair and then walked out of the conference room after the meeting was over.

Once he was gone, Noah stepped forward. He looked at Killian with a hint of resentment on his face as he questioned, "You lycans are really good at getting away. I wonder how long these sleazy actions of yours will save your life."

"Sleazy?"

"I believe the word that you are looking for is ’wise’," Killian corrected with a smile. "I mean, only fools will come up with sleazy tricks; I, on the other hand, use my head. So I suppose you are incorrect when you say that I use tricks to get away with all the stupid blame that you put on my head."

"Stupid?" Noah echoed as he reached out and took Killian’s collar in his hand.