Chapter 145


    Chapter 145 – Damage Control


    Sinir


    As soon as Hugo walks into the room, I thrust E behind me, a vicious snarl on my lips. My wolf is on


    high alert from having imed 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 preupied with guarding E –


    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.


    E, troublemaker that she is, only wriggles her way back into myp, 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 E 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 E’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. E’s amused voice uses, 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 n.


    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 E a little closer.


    “We just got a report that the Current is getting ready to publish a story about E’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 E. I instinctively


    begin to purr, but when I look down at my mate she’s frozen in ce, her beautiful gold eyes wide with


    horror. “How did this happen?”


    Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    “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 E. 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 rxed. “I should


    have killed that bitch when I had the chance.” I continue a momentter, “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 rtionship is a fraud and that E 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 rtes grimly, “And I don’t think there’s anything we can do to convince them not to


    print it. They have proof that E and Aileen aren’t rted 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?” E 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 E 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 E and I met ande 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 noment, 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 oundish usations.” He paces back and


    forth while I absentmindedly croon and pet E, 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 alreadying to pieces… I hate that she’s


    known nothing but fear and stress sinceing 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 rtionship is fake, than they will if they believe you were just trying to protect your


    mate when she couldn’t ess her wolf.”


    “I think Hugo is right.” E 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 thates 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 E’s iming, 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 weing a son. And if they use us of ying politics, we’ll say


    that I believed E would have be 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 E. “Do you want toe out in the open about his misdeeds – distract the press by iming


    he was already trying to kill E 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.”