Chapter 145 – Damage Control
Sinclair
As soon as Hugo walks into the room, I thrust Ella behind me, a vicious snarl on my lips. My wolf is on high alert from having claimed his mate so recently, his possessive instincts spinning out of control and stronger than I’ve ever experienced.
She’s mine. He thinks angrily, He shouldn’t even be allowed to look at her. I can’t even process my beta’s words, because I’m too preoccupied with guarding Ella – despite the fact that I know my old friend isn’t any threat. Still there’s no reasoning with a protective wolf, and all mine knows is that another male is in the vicinity of my precious, breeding mate.
Ella, troublemaker that she is, only wriggles her way back into my lap, putting herself between me and the target of my wrath. She pulls my glowing eyes down to her own, both of her small hands framing my face. I glower at the insolent creature, not all pleased that she’s stopping me from attacking the interloper, but Ella stares back with unwavering calm. Stop being ridiculous. Her silken voice sounds in my head. It’s only Hugo, and I don’t have eyes for anyone but you.
It’s not your eyes I’m worried about. My wolf replies grumpily. He’d be a fool not to want you and he can’t have you. I lower my mouth to her fresh, red mark, breathing in her scent and gently nibbling her tender skin. Mine, mine, mine. A noticeable shiver runs down Ella’s spine, and my wolf puffs out his chest with masculine pride.
Naughty mate, I rumble, positively crowing when she shudders again and the scent of her arousal wafts up to me. Her body might be exhausted, but her wolf is as insatiable as my own. Challenging me, pretending to be all can and reasonable when you crave my dominance every bit as much as I need to exert it. Come on, let me bite him just a little – a warning bite, so he remembers who you belong to.
You’re impossible. Ella’s amused voice accuses, tempting me to turn her over my knee and remind her who’s in charge. If I want to attack my Beta, who is she to stop me? Doesn’t she realize how special she is, how invaluable? Besides, he said there was a problem. We need to hear him out – what if the Prince is getting ready to stage another attack. He must be furious that we thwarted his plan.
This thought brings reason crashing down, subduing my wolf and focusing my attention back on Hugo, who’s been watching our silent exchange with understanding but also quickly waning patience. “What is it?” I demand, snuggling Ella a little closer.
“We just got a report that the Current is getting ready to publish a story about Ella’s background.” Hugo announces, referencing one of the few newspapers in Moon Valley that aligns politically with the Prince. “Apparently the Prince sent his spies to the shadow pack to investigate her past… and they figured out that we’ve been lying about her identity. They don’t know she’s a human, but they know we haven’t been honest.”
“What?” I hiss, horrified and devastated by the fear and guilt I feel radiating from Ella. I instinctively begin to purr, but when I look down at my mate she’s frozen in place, her beautiful gold eyes wide with horror. “How did this happen?”
“I don’t know.” Hugo sighs, “If I had to guess I’d say this is another of Lydia’s schemes – because of the timing if nothing else.”
I let out a volley of ferocious swears, interrupting my purring and startling Ella. My wolf whines in regret and I move my hand to her round belly, checking on our pup. I feel a tiny pulse of unease, and immediately resume my purrs, not speaking again until both mother and child have relaxed. “I should have killed that bitch when I had the chance.” I continue a moment later, “What’s the Current’s angle?”
Hugo looks reluctant to speak, but eventually he says, “that you’ve been running a morality campaign and the entire time you’ve been lying to the people and the Alpha council. They’re suggesting your entire relationship is a fraud and that Ella is a paid surrogate – they want to know if you have a comment.”
“Can we stop it?” I ask. I own some shares in the paper, but I’m afraid that my economic holdings won’t do much good if the pack turns against me. “Do you know if anyone else has hold of the story?”
“Not yet.” Hugo relates grimly, “And I don’t think there’s anything we can do to convince them not to print it. They have proof that Ella and Aileen aren’t related and that no one with her name ever resided in the territory.”
“Damn it.” I murmur, trying to wrap my head around this. “Dominic, what do we do?” Ella looks up at me with so much trust and hope, and I realize that she’s looking to me for the answer – the solution. This incredible woman, who has only ever been able to rely on herself and fix her own problems, trusts me so much that she’s giving me that responsibility. I can’t let her down.
“Well…” I begin slowly, working through the possibilities. “The way I see it, we have three options. We can try to get ahead of the story and release it ourselves – say that Ella was a suppressed wolf and our love is real but we hid her past because we were trying to figure out how to wake her wolf.
We can deny it, but if we do then they’ll probably start looking closer to home – working backwards to discover how Ella and I met and come to the conclusion that she’s a human. We can disprove that now, but it will be even messier if they figure out the truth and we’ve spent all this time insisting the story is false. Or we can simply say no comment, and hope that the story doesn’t make an impact.”
“But it will make an impact – you know it will.” Hugo counters seriously. “The other papers will pick it up when they see the evidence, and your refusal to acknowledge the reports will only allow the Prince and anyone else who opposes you to make up more and more outlandish accusations.”
He paces back and forth while I absentmindedly croon and pet Ella, who has tears in her eyes for a very different reason than she did a little while ago. I hate that our nascent joy is already coming to pieces… I hate that she’s known nothing but fear and stress since coming into my life and that yet again, I can’t protect her the way I want. The way she deserves.
“I think our only move is to try and get ahead of the story, control the narrative by framing things ourselves.” Hugo advises, looking worried despite his confident tone. “The pack will be more outraged if they think your relationship is fake, than they will if they believe you were just trying to protect your mate when she couldn’t access her wolf.”
“I think Hugo is right.” Ella pipes up, her voice hoarse. “We can spin this in our favor only as long as we get the word out first.”
I know they’re correct. The problem is that I have a terrible feeling that this scandal might be my downfall. In many ways the Current’s reporters are telling the truth. I have been running a campaign on the basis of honesty and virtue, and I have been lying to everyone in the interest of winning. Does it matter that my motives were noble? That my only interest in being King is to keep a tyrant off the throne? That I never asked for this duty, but I’m not going to shirk the responsibility that comes with my power?
My stomach is in knots, but I slowly nod, knowing that this is the only path forward, even if it leads to a dead end. “Call a press conference.” I instruct Hugo. “We’ll say we’re announcing Ella’s claiming, that her wolf has been dormant but with the help of the pack elders, we were able to wake it.
If they ask about her past we’ll admit that we don’t have any answers, and we’re just thrilled that we’ve finally found each other and that we’re welcoming a son. And if they accuse us of playing politics, we’ll say that I believed Ella would have become an even bigger target if people knew how vulnerable she was.”
“And the Prince?” Hugo asks, fully aware of the conversation I had with my father before we went to rescue Ella. “Do you want to come out in the open about his misdeeds – distract the press by claiming he was already trying to kill Ella and the babe, that the only reason you risked waking her wolf while she was pregnant was because he kidnapped her?”
For the first time in a very long time, I’m passed caring about taking the high road. The Prince has been getting away with his crimes for far too long, and it’s time the people knew about it. “Fuck it.” I growl, squeezing the sweet bundle in my arms, “Let’s do it.”
