I don't think Emma would leave Jeremy either, I think that she says that because she wants to cement that she's serious about the way she was treated. She wants to make sure he knows that it was unacceptable.

Also yeah it was them, the story just got changed over people repeating it, like the telephone game lol.

Grace followed us into the building. The doors opened up into a big auditorium like room. The place was packed and loud. Elijah made his way through the crowd to get to the table up front where Ashe and some other werewolves were. I followed quietly.

As soon as people saw Elijah, the room quieted down to murmurs. I heard several people whispering 'he's really back.' Ex-pack leader or not he seemed to have a lot more respect than Ashe.

"Can I have a word with you privately?" Elijah asked Ashe.

Ashe nodded and quickly lead us into the empty hallway behind the auditorium. She looked furious.

"You really had to choose now to flex your influence?" She growled. "Do you realize how embarrassing it is to have you simply walk in and get control of a crowd that I've been trying to calm for half an hour. What do you want?"

Elijah raised an eyebrow, "What do I want? Isn't it obvious I want to know how everyone found out about these guys and how the story got twisted. You had guards with you when you picked them up, how has the real story not come out yet?"

"I don't know how it got out but I'm the one who said it was humans," Ashe said. "Would you rather let everyone know we were harboring fugitives?"

"Well now I'm being told to convince you to let them go out in search parties," Elijah said. "This goes one of two ways Ashe. The truth gets out and you lose your position for lying or a war starts between the packs because of false accusations. Why didn't you just let it be? They aren't fugitives."

"Exactly why I haven't authorized search parties. No one's going anywhere near the territory borders," Ashe growled.

"You think they're really going to listen to you much longer? They'll be out searching on their own by the end of the day."

I cleared my throat quietly and said, "Why don't you tell them you have a contact there Elijah? And that your contact said its not true, it was all internal. Two families got mad at each other and got into a fight."

Ashe laughed, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. They'd never believe that."

"Maybe not from you," I argued. "But they seem to believe everything out of Elijah's mouth."

"What about the skeptics?" Elijah asked.

I shrugged, "I don't know but would you rather deal with a pack of angry werewolves or a handful of angry werewolves? I'd rather only have to deal with the skeptics."

"Sounds like a solution to me. Roll with it Ashe, if you want to keep your position," Elijah said. "I will take over to keep my family safe if I need to."

She growled and walked back into the room. Elijah playfully hit my arm and said, "I like this confidence Chloe. You don't usually talk back like that."

We walked back into the room, things quieted down again.

"Listen up," Ashe said as she stood behind the table. "There's been a lot of information flying around. Elijah's here to clear things up."

I stood behind the people sitting at the table while Elijah went around front and sat down on the table itself. The man he was blocking did not look happy with it.

"Alright people," Elijah said. "There will be no search parties for humans." He paused as the crows started talking. "Excuse me I wasn't done." He shouted, the crowd hushed again. Elijah really had some power here, it was cool to watch. "There will be no search parties because there are no humans to search for. I've contacted the other pack and there has been a misunderstanding. There was conflict between a few members of the pack, they fought each other not lost humans. Their troublemakers were kicked out of the territory. That's all that happened. I don't know where these stories got mixed up but that needs to stop now before someone goes looking and gets hurt."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" A man in the audience said. "You abandoned us."

"I may have left, yes, but have any of you ever known me to lie?" Elijah said. "I'm very open about my opinions. What would I have to gain by lying right now?"

"If you're not lying then call up this contact and prove they're real," the man said.

I didn't even think it through before the words came out of my mouth.

"That might be difficult when I'm right here," I said. I fit the role, I didn't smell like a werewolf they knew and I was covered in scratches and bruises not to mention my bandaged hand.

Eyes spun to me included Elijah's. I had to roll with it now that I'd opened my mouth. I stepped forwards arms crossed.

"No humans were involved," I said. "It was simply a fight that broke out between some members. We would appreciate you staying off our territory while we sort things out."

"You said she was your daughter Elijah," Grace said from the back of the quiet room.

"Well she is. You think I don't have spies among my enemies?" Elijah said like it was obvious. "How else would I survive this long on my own?"

Whispers spread throughout the room. Everyone's attention was on this now instead. Except for one guy.

"Wait a second," a man growled. "You can't be on our territory if you belong to them!"

I shrugged, "I think one trespassing is justified to prevent war between our packs. I am here peacefully, as a representative."

Elijah cut the man off before he argued more.

"You asked for proof of my contact, here you go," he growled. "Don't get mad that I was telling the truth. I shouldn't have to mention though that since she's my daughter she has the right to be on our land."

"I expect to see none of you near my territory," I glared at the audience.

"Meeting adjourned," Ashe spoke now. "No one is to go near their territory if there are no injured humans. I expect everyone to stay within our boundaries, anyone who doesn't, will not have the support of the pack."

I got some nasty looks from werewolves as they left the building. I took that as I was convincing enough at not being one of them. Elijah pulled me out to the empty hallway. As soon as the door shut he laughed and scooped me up in a hug.

"You evil little genius," he said. "I should be pissed but I can't. That was one convincing show you put on."

"I think my appearance helped make it realistic," I smiled.

"Ashe is going to be pissed that she's going to owe you big time," Elijah laughed. "You put all their attention on you instead of her lies. That's just brilliant."

I couldn't help but feel pride swell up in my chest. Elijah was proud of my on the spot thinking, anyone else would've scolded me for the consequences that'll come from it.

"Come on, let's get back to the others," Elijah said.

"Hold on," I noticed his forearm was kind of pinkish red. "Did someone hit you when we were walking through the crowd."

Elijah looked at it, "Oh that's um that's how I monitor magic stuff. Like how I knew something had happened to you. If it gets reddish then somethings happened, the darker the bigger the problem. This pink is nothing. Probably just someone stopping by Tess' house and tripping the proximity alarm."

"Oh ok," I nodded, letting it go because he didn't seem worried at all.

"You saved lives out there," Elijah smiled. "I hope you know that. You might've just stopped a war from breaking out."

I smiled and followed him to the back door.