Chapter 23: The Archives

I stayed up late and waited until it was around one in the morning. Zander and I had decided to look around while everyone was asleep. We didn’t want to risk getting caught snooping around.

That was not a risk I wanted to take. This pack had been like a second home to me for the past few months. I wouldn’t lose their trust that easily.

Before I left my suite, I went into the bathroom and looked at myself. I had taken off my makeup and looked kind of tired. This was not something I wanted Zander to see. It wasn’t like I wanted to impress him or anything, however. As a girl, I just wanted to look my best regardless of the situation.

I debated whether I should a little makeup on or not for a couple minutes. Seconds later, I chose to reapply a little bit of eyeliner and concealer with a faint bit of pale pink lipstick. It was better than looking like a zombie. I even rebrushed my hair, since it had flattened when I laid on the bed.

Not wanting to wake anyone, I crept quietly to Zander’s room. I stood outside and waited for him to come out. No way would we risk making any unnecessary noise.

Zander came out of his room, and we snuck towards a room that he had found earlier. He was doing some investigating while I talked to Maurice.

The door was locked, which seemed highly suspicious. Maybe there were important papers within the room. There was only one way to find out.

I took out a paperclip from my pocket and tried to pick at the lock. My uncle had taught me this skill in case I was ever in a bad situation.

The door unlocked easily, so we pushed it open gently and walked in. Zander quietly shut the door. We put on our flashlight apps from our phones and started searching around the area. There were two filing cabinets with several drawers, and a desk stood in the middle of the room.

This could’ve taken all night to have searched for what Zander wanted. I was willing to help him regardless. It was important to find the truth of what really happened to Zander’s parents. Something was wrong with the situation and even Maurice acted weird about it.

I whispered, “You can look through one cabinet. I’ll do the other.”

He nodded and started carefully searching through the cabinet closest to him. I looked in the cabinet nearest to me and tried to not be loud. If we woke up anyone, we’d be screwed. I’m sure Maurice wouldn’t trust me anymore, and I couldn’t risk that.

Zander gasped a couple minutes later. He walked towards me and showed a document he had found.

He said, “This document mentions about my parents, but certain things have been blacked out.

I shook my head and said, “This pack really is covering up their past. Someone doesn’t want us to find out the truth.”

Zander looked impressed and said, “Whoever did this did a damn good job. I’ve seen mostly blacked out papers and torn ones.” He added, “This person knows what they’re doing.”

The person behind this killing must’ve prepared to hide the evidence. He or she was smart enough to hide their ties to the crime. I wished I had some detective skills. Wolf senses weren’t enough to solve the crime unfortunately. I wished they were.

Zander went back to looking through the archives and pulled out a few more documents. I was about to head back to my cabinet when Zander gently grabbed my arm. Shivers spread throughout my body at his touch.
I couldn’t help how he affected me. There was no stopping the attraction I had for him. Part of me wanted more of his touch.

“Cleo, you’ve got to look at this document. There’s this name Jenny along with my parents' names.” He continued, “I’ve never heard of Jenny before. I wonder who she was and how she’s connected.”

I read the document but it didn’t give much away. Most of it was unreadable.

A few seconds later, I found a document with some diary fragments. I came across a section that I had to show Zander.

I went back to his side and said, “You’ve got to see these documents.”

Zander came to my side and stood close to me. Heat came to my face that I hoped he didn't see.

He shined the phone light on it and read. When he finished, he said, “There might’ve been a scandal that happened. I don’t remember hearing about any scandals when I was young.”

“Maybe that’s because whoever was in charge of the archives refused to tell anyone. This is way too shady.”

“I’m really glad I was kicked out. This pack wouldn’t have been safe to be in.”

I shyly stated, “I’m glad that you got to join my pack instead.”

He smiled at me and said, “Wow, that’s one of the nicest things you’ve said to me. Tell me more.”

I playfully shoved him away from me. When he flirted with me, I thought I’d melt into a puddle on the ground.

We went back to searching for more documents and came up with only one more document. It was more or less the same content as the others. Only this paper talked about Jenny a lot more.

Zander turned towards me and said, “We should take some pictures or make notes of what we found on our phones.”

We kept the flash off on our cameras and took pictures of the more useful documents. Zander and I put the archives in their original spots when we were finished. If anything was out of place, then our fingerprints would be on everything. We’d be in deep trouble if that happened.

I walked back towards the door first and was about to open it but got stopped. Zander turned me around to face him and gently pressed me against the door. He leaned down and touched his lips to mine for a brief moment before my phone went off.