Claire’s POV
༢ ཏྲཱི75%་ྗ
If I really wanted Gideon’s help, and I did, then I knew I needed to sit down with him and actually talk about what was going on. Rather than run away, as I have been doing, I needed to sit with him and talk these things through, to tell him about Ivan’s suspicions about what happened to my mother, and that I wanted to learn the truth.
My feelings for Gideon were a jumbled mess, and it made approaching him about anything twenty times more difficult than it needed to be. Ever since feeling the jolt of the mating bond, which had since been quietly thrumming in the back of my mind, I got jittery feelings around Gideon.
Even with our past, even with everything, being near him made me as nervous as a schoolgirl with a crush.
But my quest for truth was more important than hiding from my feelings from Gideon. So, after taking some time to gather myself and my courage, hiding it all behind a veil just like I had my Raven mask, I approached Gideon and finally told him what I needed.
His answer did not change.
“I will help you,” he said. “We’ll find out what happened to your mother.”
“It could take a long time,” I said.
“I don’t care,” he told me. “I don’t care how long it takes. We will find you the truth.”
I closed my eyes to hide my emotion. “Thank you.”
A few minutes later, we sat at the dining room table, with everything he had already researched spread out in front of us. We’d decided early that Gideon’s office wasn’t big enough, and moved everything to the dining room instead.
Xavier came in and out, doing our computer based research for us, and bringing us print outs and copies of the things we needed.
The kids kept morale high, sitting with their coloring books and their drawings at the same table we were working, taking their own work as seriously as we were taking ours, albeit with the crack of a smile now and then or a short interlude for them to show us their successful drawings and colorings.
Yet, even after a couple of hours of combing through the files we had, it was clear we just didn’t have enough. Everything in the public databases about Lena were basic facts, where she had lived, the names of her parents, her birthday. And while some of the pictures were nice to see, it was disappointing to not have more personal details.
“We’re not going to find anything out about how she died from these surface–level sources,” I said.
Gideon frown, a line splitting his brow. “You’re right. We have to go deeper.” He considered this a moment. “I wonder if there is any information hidden in your own records…”
“Mine?”
“Don’t forget Daniel, Lena’s brother, was the one who brought you here and then left you without anyone knowing who you were,” Gideon said. “Maybe he left some trail for us to follow. On even if he didn’t, perhaps we can parse some knowledge from those files that might give some hint about why you had to be taken away. If we follow that lead, maybe we can then find out what happened to Lena.”
“Okay,” I said. I wasn’t against it, though I was apprehensive about learning the specific details of my own abandonment. That knowledge might hurt me, even after all these years, but if lead to the truth, I was willing to do it.
Gideon and I went to the pack archives, where records of pack dealings like adoptions and transfers were meticulously kept. We left the children behind, not thinking they would find much enjoyment in this part of the research. They were being
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Chapter 182
watched by their most favored, and most trusted, bodyguards and babysitters.
75%
With the archivist’s help, Gideon and I uncovered my official records. Rather than the dining room table, we now sat at a wide desk in the library or the archives, surrounded by tall bookcases, some dust in the air. Some of these books hadn’t been touched in a very long time, it seemed.
“Here,” Gideon said, pointing to a passage. “This is your official pack adoption form.”
I looked closer at it, as it was stitched into the book for the adoptions that year.
Daniel had signed for my abandonment, but had not given many details, leaving many questions blank, including those about where I had been born, which pack I had belonged to previously, and who my parents were.
“How was he allowed to leave me without answering any of these questions?” I asked. “I had thought some of these things were required. Instead, it was like I was a blank slate. I might as well have been left in a basket on someone’s doorstep. There was just nothing here.
Regret and pain tore at me. “Maybe I was just left behind to be forgotten.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Gideon said. When he looked at me his eyes were kind. “If something did happen to your mother, then maybe Daniel was trying to protect you by keeping you anonymous.”
I didn’t know if I believed that, but it was a nicer, less dark thought than my own. I clung to it with all of my thoughts and hoped that it was true.
I glanced at Gideon again, grateful for him, even with my complicated feelings. Without him, I wasn’t sure I would have the will to continue this search. I probably would have assumed the worst about myself and given up.
His strength and his belief in me made me want to keep going.
Unfortunately, in this moment, we seemed to be at something of an impasse.
“I was thinking,” he said, still looking at me, holding my gaze. “I know I’ve mentioned the possibility before, but now I’m more certain. We should have a banquet, a grand pack event, to celebrate your return.”
My look turned withering. “You really think people will come?”
“I’m positive they will,” he said. “And this would give you the chance to announce your lineage to the pack.”
I wasn’t sure that this was such a good idea, but with the brightness in his eyes, and how my heart beat looking at him, I found I didn’t want to refuse him. What if he was right? What if I had more friends than I knew? What if this was my chance to be reunited with them?
It was worth the risk of potentially being embarrassed, if I could and more people who wanted me around….
Leo’s POV
The minute that I heard about the banquet going to be held in Mom’s honor, I tugged Nova and Xavier both away from Mom and Dad. Nova was determined as me. Xavier seemed mostly confused, lifting a brow.
“This is our chance,” I said. “We can surely plan to get them together for the banquet!”
“Or even while they plan it!” Nova added.
We both looked at Xavier as understanding started to cross his face. “Yes… I suppose it would be beneficial if they stopped dancing around each other, and started dancing together. I can help you, but what did you have in mind?”
Nova and I looked at each other and grinned.
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Chapter 183
Chapter 183
