Chapter 122

Nathan POV

There was a pile of work in front of me. Like every day I came into the office, today was filled with meetings and reports that needed to be read and signed off on.

I also had a few potential candidates for campaign manager to interview in the afternoon.

But I couldn’t focus on any of it.

Because Claire still hadn’t answered my letter.

And it was beginning to make me question myself.

Had I been too open in my letter? Had I moved too fast?

Was she mad at me? Was she hurt or upset in some other way?

I just didn’t know, and the wondering was getting harder to push away every single day.

Feeling frustrated, and tired of wondering what was going on, I pulled out my phone to send her a text.

Just to have it ring as soon as it was in my hand.

Heart leaping, I checked the display, thinking somehow it would be Claire. That she’d been thinking about me at the same time I was thinking about her.

But it wasn’t Claire.

It was Andy’s school.

Calling to tell me that Andy had been in a fight.

Half an hour later, after rushing over to the school, I walked into the principal’s office.

“Alpha Nathan,” Principal Collins said, standing up to shake my hand and then offering me a seat.

“Thank you for coming in on such short notice.”

“Of course,” I said, taking a seat. “Please, tell me what’s going on. I was told Andy was in a fight?”

She sat back down, folding her hands on top of her desk and nodding.

“Yes he is. And for lying.”

I was surprised by that.

“The fighting I can understand, Principal Collins. I know how easily tempers could be lost on the playground.

“But lying? I find that hard to believe.”

“Nevertheless, Alpha, it’s true. I heard him claiming it myself.”

I clenched my jaw, feeling insulted at the claim that my son was a liar.

“I demand you tell me the full story. What exactly happened here?”

“Apparently your son has been dealing with a bully, Alpha. I’ve spoken with Andy and, though he was reluctant to be seen as a tattle-tale, he told me an older boy named Jeremy has been bullying him relentlessly.”

I was stunned.

A bully??

Why hadn’t Andy told me this?

Did he think I wasn’t someone he could talk to?

I shook my head, setting the sting of that pain to the side.

“So what happened?:

“Simply put, Alpha, I believe your son had enough. He tackled Jeremy this morning outside of school and beat him up.”

A sense of pride warmed me at the image that popped into my mind, of my small son standing up to his older, bigger bully.

Not just standing up to him, but taking him down as well.

Violence wasn’t always the answer, of course. That was something I had made sure to teach my son.

There were usually alternatives to violence.

But…sometimes there wasn’t.

And I thought this was probably one of those times.

“Principal Collins, if my son was being bullied at your school, without any teachers or staff noticing or doing anything about it, then Andy simply did what he needed to do.

“I refuse to acknowledge that he did anything wrong here.”

The principal bristled a bit when I implied that her teachers or staff should have spotted what was happening and helped my son long before today.

“That may be, Alpha, but your son was also lying. In fact, he continues to do so now, down at the nurse’s station.

“He refuses to admit that what he’s saying is untrue.”

“And what exactly is my son saying that’s so awful?” I demanded.

“Alpha Nathan, your son is claiming that the Royal Princess herself is actually his mother.”

She gave me a small smile.

“Now, I know Andy’s been having a very tough time lately. And I’m certainly willing to cut him some slack about fighting with his bully.

“But honestly, claiming the Princess is his mother? That won’t make the teasing stop. If anything, it will make it worse.”

Andy was…?!

I felt the shock like a physical shove, almost like a blow.

Claire had worried about him being able to keep a secret like this.

I had assured her he was perfectly capable of understanding the seriousness of hiding the truth about who his mother was.

But it turned out I was wrong.

I kept my expression as blank as possible, passing off my surprise with a polite laugh.

“Principla Collins, my son is just confused. We’ve both been spending some time with Princess Claire.

“I think he has some pretty high hopes about the direction our relationship might eventually take.”

The principal raised an eyebrow. “You’re saying your son isn’t actually lying? That it’s more just a case of, what, wishful thinking?”

I nodded, then paused.

And realized maybe I didn’t have to figure out a lie here to cover our tracks.

Andy spilling the truth about who his mother really is didn’t have to be the emergency Claire had feared when we spoke about it before.

What would it hurt for people to know I was intending to court Claire? Would that be so bad?

That upstart Alpha Gavin certainly wasn’t being shy about it.

So why should I be?

After all, I was pretty sure Gavin was just using his association with Claire to get attention for his Alpha President campaign.

But I was totally serious about being with her.

And if no one suspected that Claire and I knew each other before, what would be the harm in letting our current relationship, and where I wanted it to go, become common knowledge?

Especially if doing so would help me get Andy out of trouble with the principal and any other bullies he might have.

So I shrugged away the principal’s concern over Andy’s “lie.”

“Wishful thinking is a good way to put it,” I said. “And I’ll admit, I have high hopes about where my relationship with the Princess might go myself.”

Watching her carefully, I could tell the moment Principal Collins realized what I was saying.

“Alpha Nathan, are you saying…?

“Do you mean that you are actually going to be courting Princess Claire??”

“I certainly hope to do so, if she’ll have me. Right now we’re just getting to know each other.”

“Well, yes, then I can certainly see how Andy would be a little confused. Especially after all he’s been through.

“Why don’t we just forget this whole incident, yes?”

I thanked her, relieved for Andy’s sake to have the situation resolved quickly.

“And may I ask, what is the Royal Palace like? I’ve always wanted to see it?”

I smiled, knowing that beneath her curiosity about the palace was a desire to know more about the Princess, and our relationship.

So I answered her questions and chatted with her for a while, relieved to have the right version of my and Claire’s story out in the open.

Hopefully answering Principal Collins’ questions would end all the nasty rumors and gossip that had been floating around.

Because I wasn’t a fool.

I knew that what I said to the principal here in her office would be out of the school and straight into the newspapers by the next day.

So why not use that to my advantage for once?