Chapter 100

Nathan POV

The ceremony took forever.

First we were introduced, to the crowd and the people watching at home.

Then we introduced ourselves, giving a brief overview of our plan and platform as a future Alpha President.

And then there was the short debate, then the closing comments, then the meet and greet with each other and with the public…

The evening seemed endless.

And all I could think about the entire time was getting a chance to speak with Claire again, in private.

She needed to explain herself.

Finally the events of the evening came to a close, and I took my over-stimulated son back to our guest suite at the palace. He was filled with excitement, but I also knew how draining the entire night must have been for a child his age.

I wasn’t surprised when he dropped off to sleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Giving me the chance to finally go speak with his mother.

And get some answers.

After asking a servant where Claire’s quarters were - and watching the interest and curiosity light up in his eyes before he gave me the answer - I made my way upstairs to the private Royal chambers.

There I found Claire in her private sitting room, staring into the fire blazing cheerfully in the wide marble fireplace.

She was dressed in a nightgown and robe, and it was a big change from the glamorous, confident princess that stood on stage just a few hours before.

I realized in that moment how much I’d grown used to seeing her like that, as the Royal Princess.

It suited her so well.

But I also realized just how much I’d missed seeing her like this, in her pajamas, with her hair falling softly down around her shoulders.

I’d missed seeing her as just Claire.

Just a woman. Just my mate.

And I longed to have that back.

Because “just Claire” was actually everything.

And everything inside of me was now demanding that I make things right with her.

That I make us a family again.

But.

Before we could do that, I needed to know why she’d done what she did earlier.

“Nathan…I’m not really in the mood for visitors,” she said wearily as I came into the room.

“That’s too bad, Claire. We need to talk. And it can’t wait anymore.”

She sighed, still staring into the fire as I took the seat beside her.

“Fine. What do you want to talk about?”

“I think you already know. Why did you stop me from telling Andy who you truly are? After all these years of asking me to do exactly that.

“Do you not want to be our son’s mother anymore??”

Claire turned to me, with such a look of sadness and hurt in her eyes that it made me blink in surprise.

I’d expected her to be angry, or at least annoyed.

I hadn’t expected to see grief.

“I want that more than anything, Nathan. You know that. How could you think otherwise?”

“Then why…?”

She shook her head. “Because I can’t ask Andy to keep that kind of information to himself. I can’t ask our son to carry that kind of secret, not at his age.

“I just don’t want to put that weight on him.”

I frowned. “Andy is perfectly capable of keeping that information to himself.”

“He’s a child, Nathan!” On a surge of energy and emotion, Claire stood up and began to pace back and forth in front of the fire.

“You really don’t think that at some point he’ll let it slip and tell someone his mother is actually the Royal Princess??”

I watched her pace. “It’s a possibility, but if we tell him how important it is - ”

She waved my words away angrily. “It’s a big possibility, no matter how important we tell him it is to keep him a secret. And once that secret gets out, people will start asking all kinds of questions, won’t they?”

She turned to face me, her gaze burning into mine, now with as much anger as sadness.

“And then they’ll start making connections. Connections about us.

“And just how long we’ve been together.”

I sat back in my seat, realizing she was right.

If word got out that Claire was Andy’s mom, it wouldn’t take long for people to realize that we’d had a secret relationship.

That their Alpha’s fated mate had been a wolfless Omega.

And that he’d kept that relationship hidden from the entire world - and from his son - for years.

Not only that.

I was also continuing to lie about it, claiming that I hadn’t met Claire or had any knowledge of her existence before she came to work at the Silverfang clinic.

No knowledge of her - except for the fact that she was my mate, she was the mother of my son, and she lived in my house pretending to be our child’s nanny.

Claire watched me absorb this information, and saw when I decided she was right.

Our secret still needed to be maintained.

We couldn’t tell Andy the truth, not yet.

Not until he was old enough to be trusted to keep the secret, and to realize exactly why it was so important to keep the truth hidden.

She watched me come to that understanding, and as soon as I did, her expression hardened.

“You can’t do it, can you?” she demanded.

“Even now, after everything we’ve been through, and with everything that’s changed in both of our lives, you still can’t do it.”

I looked at her, confused. “Do what?”

“Admit that you lied! Acknowledge that we’re fated mates!

“That we always have been.”

Her voice grew quiet, and sad again. “Even when I was nothing but a wolfless Omega, without any value or status in the pack.”

My stomach sank.

So this was the source of the pain and grief I’d seen on her face tonight.

And I realized it was true.

I didn’t want people to know that we had been together for all of these years.

Before, I’d kept our relationship secret because Claire was an Omega, and I knew most people wouldn’t understand an Alpha and Omega being mated.

Many wouldn’t even have accepted that it was possible.

And they certainly wouldn’t have accepted my leadership and authority if I’d insisted on maintaining a relationship with such a lowly ranked individual.

I’d kept the secret to avoid all of that.

And I still was.

I sighed. “Claire, I thought after all this time you’d understand. Especially now that you’re a Royal. Our positions were simply too far apart.”

She shook her head. “Oh no, Nathan, I understand perfectly. I always have.

“I’ve always known that your position as Alpha - that your pride - means more to you than I ever will.”

Her words, the disgust mixed in with her sadness and anger, caused a sick dread to bubble inside of me.

She really believed that.

My own mate really believed I would put my pride over her, over us.

The dread turned to nausea, as I wondered:

What if she was right??

But before I could respond, before I could even begin to process the idea of just how wrong I’d been for all these years, someone began pounding on the door of Claire’s suite.

And the servant assigned to be Andy’s nanny for the night, the one who would have checked on him not long after I tucked him into the bed, burst into the room.

“Princess! The Alpha’s son - he’s gone!!”