Chapter 120

Alpha Gavin POV

I stood and walked out from behind my desk in my office, ready to welcome my new visitor.

“Ms. Snow,” I said when Alpha Lee showed her in. A small camera crew followed behind them. “Thank you for coming all the way to Ice River headquarters to meet with me.”

Andrea Snow smiled as she took my outstretched hand. “Thank you for having me, Alpha Gavin. The Star is happy to have the chance to interview Ice River’s new leader.”

We shook hands, each of us sizing the other one up.

“I enjoyed your interview with Alpha Nathan a few weeks back,” I said as we took a seat in the comfortable lounge area of my office.

“Oh?” Andrea raised an eyebrow. Around us, the camera crew began to set up lights and camera tripods. “And what did you think?”

“I think you ambushed him.”

There was a pause in the crew’s chatter when they heard that, and everyone exchanged looks. Andrea, meanwhile, continued to watch me calmly.

I grinned at her. “And I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.”

The crew relaxed, and Andrea laughed with delight.

“Alpha Gavin, I think you and I are going to get along wonderfully!”

I agreed.

It was why I had requested her, specifically, for this interview.

People knew Andrea Snow wasn’t a fool.

Whatever she had to say, they’d listen.

It was the perfect way to begin laying the groundwork for my campaign to become the next Alpha President.

And to go public with my intentions about Princess Claire.

“Well,” Andrea said, once the crew was set up and we had microphones clipped to our shirts. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

“Yes, let’s,” I said, giving her a wink.

The cameras started rolling, Andrea did her introduction.

And then we got down to business.

“Alpha Gavin,” she said, “you’ve recently taken over as the Alpha of the Ice River pack, after your cousin was convicted of treason. And as your first act as Alpha, you exiled him from your territory. Is that correct?”

I nodded. “It is, yes. Damien was a fool to work against the Royal pack. He caused the deaths of an untold number of people. He more than deserved the exile.”

Of course, that wasn’t quite true, I thought to myself.

Damien hadn’t been exiled.

He’d been killed.

By my own hand.

Remembering it, I smiled easily at Andrea.

“That needed to be my first act as Alpha. To let people know who I was.”

“Indeed. And who you are is a new Alpha. Very new.

“Some have said that you’re too new in your position as leader to consider running for the Alpha President position. That it should go to someone with more seniority.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “And if I was an older Alpha, they’d be saying I should leave it to someone younger.”

Staring straight into the camera, I said, “I’ll let my record as a leader in this pack stand for itself. Even before I became the Alpha I was a key member of our local government.

“And unlike my competition, I have a spotless record of building my pack up, and supporting it. I haven’t helped run it into the ground.”

Andrea leaned forward. “And you’re saying your competitors can’t say the same?”

“No indeed, Andrea. In fact, Alpha Nathan comes to mind as a prime example of an Alpha who, if I’m being totally honest, has been doing a terrible job.”

Her eyes widened slightly at the bold statement.

But if she thought I was here to run a subtle campaign, she was wrong.

I had no intention of being anything but bold.

And I wanted to come out swinging.

“Silverfang pack actually has quite a solid reputation,” she said. “And many have praised Alpha Nathan for his hard work and dedication.”

I shook my head.

“Correction: Silverfang had a solid reputation. But what do people have to say about it now?

“That it’s weak. And so is its Alpha.”

Someone in the crew actually gasped at that. I nearly laughed out loud.

Under the bright interview lights, Andrea Snow looked a little pale. “Those are very harsh words, Alpha…”

Nodding, I agreed. “Yes. Harsh, but true. Hard to hear, but nothing less than the truth.

“It was Alpha Nathan who all but handed over the control of his own pack to the false princess Sabrina.

“It was Alpha Nathan who allowed her to have enough authority and command to start a war, attempt to assassinate the Royal Alpha and nearly steal his own pack from him.”

I sat back, folding my arms.

“That sounds like a weak Alpha to me. And it certainly sounds like someone who doesn’t deserve to become the next Alpha President.”

Andrea clearly had to take a moment to steady herself before moving on to the next questions.

The interview obviously wasn’t going the way she had anticipated it would.

But it was going exactly the way I wanted.

I answered the rest of her questions smoothly, easily, and with the same amount of energy and honesty.

And I took every chance I could get to smear Alpha Nathan’s “good” name.

To my mind, it was everything the man deserved.

He’d nearly lost his pack to the political scheming of a single person.

And though he was now being built up in the media as a hero for coming in to help with the rogue attacks, or as the poor father who nearly lost his son, I wasn’t buying it.

Alpha Nathan was a fool.

“This has been quite a ride, Alpha Gavin. You are clearly a passionate candidate.

“And though there’s clearly no love lost between you and Alpha Nathan, you both have the approval of Princess Claire. What do you have to say about that?”

I gave Andrea a small smile. “Well, the Princess no doubt gave her approval to Nathan as a way to thank him for his assistance with the rogue attacks.

But she is obviously a bit personally biased in my case.”

Andrea smiled. “Ah yes, and that brings us to my final question:

“Rumor has it you have intentions of courting the Royal Princess.”

Finally.

This was the final thing I wanted to accomplish with this interview, and she had just handed it right to me.

“Everyone is wondering if you really are planning to court the Princess. Is this true?”

I grinned.

“Absolutely.”

Nathan POV

In my office, I read the interview with Alpha Gavin with growing disbelief.

This was the article everyone was talking about??

I threw down the newspaper in disgust.

On the other side of my desk, Beta Evan waited to see what I thought.

“He says some pretty harsh things about you, Alpha. Do you know how you’d like to respond?”

“What? Oh, that.” I waved my hand, dismissing it. “Gavin’s full of a lot of hot air. I’m not worried. I’ll take care of him in the debates.”

No, it wasn’t what he said about me that bothered me.

It was his claim that he was courting Claire. That she was “personally biased” toward him.

I didn’t believe for a moment that Claire would actually encourage this new, upstart Alpha.

Or at least, I was telling myself I didn’t believe it.

But deep down, I was uneasy.

Because Claire still hadn’t answered my letter.