CHAPTER 358: 358-THEY WATCHED THE CRUSADERS GET INTIMATE

Clementine:

I stepped farther into the hall and looked around slowly. This place felt unreal.

Now that I could see the full room, I understood how large it was.

This was not a simple viewing area. It looked similar to an opera hall.

The screens, the chairs, the lights, the frames. Everything had been arranged with care.

It seemed as if someone expected an audience to sit here and watch us.

I stood near the stage where the tunnel had brought me.

From there, the hall stretched downward with long rows of seats arranged in a wide shape.

"Let’s see what else we can get from here," Mint whispered, and I nodded.

I stepped off the stage and moved toward the stairs.

They curved down in clean lines, similar to the ones I had seen in theaters.

Each row had a metal plate attached in front of it. I leaned closer to read the first one, and my stomach tightened.

It was a pack name.

Crimson Claws Pack.

My pack from the South.

I swallowed hard and walked to the next row. Another pack name.

Then another. Row after row carried the names of packs on the same polished panels.

My throat felt tight, and I cleared it. Tears formed in the corners of my eyes.

It seemed like it was not only the ringleaders who came here.

The packs, the royals, and possibly the parents too. They could sit here and watch.

I counted the seats. It did not look like the full pack could fit. Maybe it was only the ones involved in the system.

The Alpha and his family. And the crusaders’ families, depending on their rank.

One question repeated in my mind.

Did they watch us fight?

Did they sit here while we risked our lives in the North?

Did they cheer?

Did they complain?

Did they judge every move we made?

Did their hearts not tighten when their children died in the North?

I could not make sense of the feeling inside my chest. I walked all the way to the back of the hall.

On the other side stood a large door. It looked like it led to another important place.

Maybe it was part of a pack. Or maybe it was another hidden area inside the mountain. I had no idea.

My steps grew quicker as I moved back to the main stage.

My eyes stung, and I blinked to stop myself from crying. The stage held the big frames.

The pictures of every crusader. The lights above them were off now.

Almost all of them. Even the ones that had been on earlier were now dark.

Maybe the storm had damaged the power.

This was the perfect chance to leave. I needed to go back to the river before the others came searching for me.

Cameras hung along the walls, but they were all off. Not a single sound came from them.

I turned to leave, but something on the stage pulled my attention.

Metal trunks.

Each trunk had the name of a crusader group carved on the front.

My heart pounded hard. Curiosity pushed at me even though I knew I needed to leave.

"Do it," Mint urged, and I nodded again.

I walked to the trunk marked Black Squad, my squad. I knelt and picked the lock.

It opened with a soft click. Inside were dozens of tapes, lined neatly like they had been placed with care.

They were the old style tapes used for televisions. Each one had a title written on top.

One read: The Ogre Fight

Another: Clementine Slaying the Faun

Another: Clementine and Squad Feeling Mate Bond

My hands trembled. These tapes held everything. Every moment.

Even things that were private and safe between us. There were tapes about my squad mates too.

A full pile was about Haiden and the pregnant girl, Sadie.

Some titles mentioned Sadie’s life after she was left behind.

They knew where she was. They watched her. They never brought her back.

I closed the trunk quickly because the pressure in my chest grew too strong.

But I still reached in and took the tape with my name on it.

The one labeled Clementine and the mate bond one. I did not want to know what it meant, but I could not leave it behind.

I moved to the trunk marked Red Squad. I picked its lock as well.

The moment it opened, my eyes widened. The titles on these tapes made my stomach twist.

One tape read Threesome.

Another read Oriana Leaving a Crusader Behind.

The next tape showed the full story of the crusader who had been abandoned. Another one read Mira, Renee and Sebastian Did It Again.

There were more titles like these, all arranged as if someone had used them for enjoyment.

These were private moments. I wondered if they had shown these to the parents as well.

A wave of disgust formed in my stomach.

I struggled to breathe when my eyes landed on another tape.

Oriana Orders the Black Squad, the Three Alphas, to Leave Clementine Behind.

Oriana was still labeled under the red squad for some reason, and I noticed I was still marked in the black squad. I stared at the title without moving.

They knew.

They knew everything from the beginning.

They watched it all, and they never helped us.

The truth hit me harder than the river’s pressure. We thought we were alone in the North, but we were never alone.

They watched every moment. Even the intimate ones.

My thoughts drifted, and I wondered if they had asked Ian to come to me that night to have an intimate session.

Did they watch that too?

The question came from the broken trust that had lived inside me for years.

"Right now, we need to leave, Clementine. We have a monster to slay.

This place is not going anywhere. It is too big to destroy," Mint stated.

I shook my head.

"No. That is not true. They can destroy everything," I replied. "But if we make it seem like we were never here, it will be fine."

I realized that even if I tried to tell someone about this place, nobody would come.

No one would cross the monster. We did not even know how far the creature would drag us or how fast it could kill us.

No one would risk it.

"So we have to slay the monster first?" Mint asked.

"Yes. We have to," I answered. "But we are taking a few tapes. We need something to show if they destroy this place."

I reached back into the trunk and picked the most damaging tapes, as if they did not have other copies.

But I could not take them into the river. The water would ruin them.

I had to hide them somewhere inside the cave instead.