Chapter 330: Lies Above Lies (2)
Killian inclined his head to one side. "You do seem to pay quite a lot of attention to balance."
Dawson chuckled as if he had made a friendly joke. He tilted his head to one side and hummed in agreement, "We need to balance things out nicely; if not, things will become problematic, don’t you think so?"
Something about his words made Killian frown. He turned and looked at the ballroom, where the rest of the pack stood. He carefully looked around, and that was when something clicked in his head. There was not a single young pup among the crowd. Forget about a pup; even a teen couldn’t be seen. The rest of the pack comprised older, much more mature shifters. The youngest were Lisa and Drakon. And even the two of them, he was willing to bet his own underpants that they were at most twenty-five.
The two being the youngest didn’t make sense when a pack usually paid more attention to stretching their branches and blood. Especially small packs like the Silver Dawn pack. They would try their best to make their pack bigger and stronger by having a lot of pups. But there were no young adults, no toddlers and no babies. Killian was certain that he didn’t hear a single cry from the second he arrived in this territory.
It was one thing that they didn’t bring the children to greet him, but not letting them in the banquet—that was suspicious as fuck. Because no matter how small a pack was, the pack laws stated that every member of the pack was supposed to attend the banquet if held in honour of the moon goddess or any other goddess; he was not going to walk down that trail again.
One time, he did do that, and the pack leader who worshipped the goddess of fate instead of the moon goddess made him sit down and gave him a lecture on why he prayed to the goddess of fate and why it was necessary. That was the last time he even questioned anyone.
Anyway, back to the question at hand.
"Why are the kids not present?" Killian asked, ignoring Dawson, whose mouth was half open as if he was about to say something.
"What?" Dawson paused in his actions to hand the other champagne glass to Killian.
Killian tipped his chin at the banquet hall and the pack members who were dancing while glancing at the patio every now and then. "There are only adults. Where are the kids and the teens? Should they not be attending the banquet as per the pack laws that you believe you are balancing out while living with the humans?"
Something flickered in his eyes. He looked back at his pack, and when he turned around, his smile had been hitched back. "Ah." He placed the glass of champagne on the small round table that was placed at the corner of the patio. "We prefer to have children with pureblood shifters. It’s necessary for our pack; as you can see, we don’t have really dominant shifters. Only by mating with pureblood shifters can we have strong, dominant shifters."
"Then you mean to say that you don’t give birth at all?" Finn questioned. His eyes fell on the many female shifters who had that mature charm of a woman who had given birth. "Must be hard."
"Indeed, it is an unusual approach for a pack like yours. Usually, shifters would rush to make their pack bigger when they have such a small number of shifters." Killian pointed out.
He cleared his throat, looking awkward once again. "Well, it’s quality over quantity that matters. What is the point of having a bunch of kids who won’t have strong wolves? Look at us. Our forefathers and parents didn’t care about this little detail, and look at our pack. We have no other means to survive than to live among the humans."
"But still, not having a single pup in the pack is a bit weird, don’t you think so?" Killian remarked. Voice still calm as ever, but there was a note of suspicion that he couldn’t hide even if he wanted to.
"We are moving with the changing times, alpha. We know, as a matter of fact, that it is better to have children after careful consideration. There is no point in giving birth to litter after litter only for them to turn out omegas or something even worse," his voice darkened a little, and his smile tightened. "I believe it’s better to wait for a pureblood shifter and then give birth to a better batch."
"Isn’t it a problem? With the pack being led by just the older ones?"
His smile turned a bit hollow. "We do have Lisa and Drakon."
"Just them alone won’t suffice, would it?" Killian pressed.
"Of course it won’t, but they are not the only ones," said Dawson with an unnatural expression on his face. His tone was still light as ever, but there was an acidic note laced in there. Like he did not like where the conversation was heading. "Many of our young ones are settled around other cities, as their positions are a bit sensitive. We cannot ask them to stay close to the pack when their future is on the line."
Finn shifted beside Killian. Eyes set on the wolf in front of him, as if he could sense the lies that were coming out of the mouth of the alpha in front.
"And you don’t hold any mating ceremonies?" Killian crossed his hands behind his back. "This place looks quite romantic. It would be a shame not to use it. When was the last time you had a mating ceremony here? I don’t recall seeing a photo of any young shifter having a mating ceremony."
Again, the fear and anxiety rose in the air even when the man tried his best to hide it. "Yes, well. Our young ones have their own ideas and don’t want to settle down with a mate and pup so quickly."
"Then—"
Bang.
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