Chapter 126

Nathan POV

I stormed out of Claire’s room, my temper high and my system screaming.

No! my wolf shouted. Go back! I want my mate!!

Everything inside of me was demanding that I go back.

Go back to Claire.

Turning left then right blindly, I strode through the palace hallways with no idea where I was going.

I just knew that I needed to get away from that room.

Away from Claire.

Before I did something stupid, like fall to my knees and beg her forgiveness.

Beg her to take me back.

How could she reject me like that??

That moment with her in my arms, her soft lips so tender under mine, her sounds of pleasure in my ear, had been everything I wanted.

Everything I longed for.

And she pushed me away as if it was nothing.

And that didn’t just make me angry.

It hurt me, deeply.

I thought about the letter I wrote to her as I continued to walk through the palace, making my way down to the ground floor.

I thought about the letter I sent, and all the others I’d written and not yet had the courage to put in the mail.

As vulnerable and emotional as the first letter was, all the rest were even more so. I opened my heart more and more each time, wanting to show Claire just how deep my love for her was.

Now it felt like I was almost being punished for all that openness and honesty.

I had spilled my heart out to Claire, and she had pushed it away.

As I continued to walk, my system calmed down slowly. The lust that had howled like a wild storm inside of me gradually grew quieter.

After a while, I was finally able to think a little more clearly.

And I began to realize that I hadn’t been the only one affected by our embrace.

Claire had been just as lost in the moment as I was.

Now that I thought about it, it was clear our encounter had left her shaken as well. I knew her well enough to be able to tell at least that much.

Claire had definitely wanted me just as much as I wanted her.

So why had she stopped like that?

Why had she pulled away from me?

And why did her eyes have such a look of pain in them when she did?

I needed time and space to think about what happened tonight between us.

Because just then it was a struggle to even think at all.

But then, just as I was about to turn a corner, I caught the hint of a scent that smelled so much like Claire my heart leapt.

She was looking for me!

She’d changed her mind and wanted me to come back!

But when I turned the corner, it wasn’t Claire I saw hurrying down the hall.

It was just her cousin, Catherine.

The disappointment that shuddered through me was sharp. It felt like a kind of grief.

I stepped to the side, giving her room to walk by me, but her eyes lit up when she saw me.

She hurried up to me, smiling.

“Alpha Nathan! I heard you were in the palace.

“I’m so glad I found you. May I speak with you for a moment?”

My nose was immediately filled with her scent.

And it was so close to Claire’s that it began to make the system I’d been working to calm start to go haywire again.

“Hello, Duchess. What can I do for you?” I asked.

I said it just to be polite.

But the truth was, it was a struggle at the moment just to speak. I doubted if I’d truly hear anything she had to say.

“Actually, Alpha, it’s more a matter of what I might be able to do for you,” she said, smiling up at me.

Had her eyes always been that exact shade? I wondered.

So very close to the same shade as Claire’s?

This was the closest I’d even stood next to Catherine, and the similarities between her and Claire truly were striking.

And I didn’t know why I hadn’t ever noticed that before.

I leaned forward slightly, wanting another breath of her scent, wanting to taste it and tease apart what separated her scent from Claire’s.

But it was hard. They were so very close.

Had I truly never noticed this before?

I shook my head, trying to get myself under control. “I’m sorry, what? I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Well, you may or may not know this, but I’m fairly well versed in politics. My father is a duke, so it was a large part of my education when I was growing up.

“I’ve been following your campaign for Alpha President closely. And I’d like to help, if you’d let me.”

I frowned. My campaign?

After my encounter with Claire, the Alpha Presidency was the furthest thing from my mind.

“And how would you help?”

“As a campaign manager, of course! Listen, I know Sabrina, well, she’s basically a monster. But I know she’s also very good at campaign and media management.

“I imagine you’ve been missing having such a savvy campaign manager, now that the race for President has resumed.”

Sabrina’s name cooled the last of my longing, and brought the conversation into sharper focus.

“I’ll admit, running a campaign on my own has been more difficult than I thought it would be.”

“Well then, consider this my official application for the position of campaign manager.”

She smiled at me and held out her hand.

I took it, about to say I’d think about her offer. Anything to just get me out of the palace as quickly as possible.

But then I paused.

No matter how upset I was right now, I really did need a campaign manager.

Trying to book events and handle marketing, media correspondence and all the many other tasks involved was slowly taking over my days.

I was barely getting anything else done anymore.

“Actually, I accept your application,” I said, her hand still in mine.

It was so soft and small, so delicate.

I frowned and let it go.

“Meet me at my office at Silverfang headquarters first thing Monday morning. We’ll talk more, and see if you’re still interested once I show you the giant to-do list currently waiting on my desk.”

Catherine laughed. “I’m not afraid of rolling up my sleeves. And thank you! I’ll see you Monday morning.”

Catherine POV

I smiled to myself as Nathan walked away.

That had gone well.

Very well.

I was glad I’d heard about his arrival at the palace with enough time to spritz myself with my brand new perfume.

It was a very…special blend, a little something I’d had my private chemist working on for weeks.

A blend that included a special pheromone derived from a sample of Claire’s DNA.

A pheromone that made me smell just enough like my cousin that I knew it would play havoc with Nathan’s famously keen senses.

From the look on his face, and the way he’d leaned forward once or twice to catch my scent, it had clearly been working.

But that was just step one of the plan I’d been working on.

My plan to steal Nathan from Claire.

And the next step of that plan would begin bright and early Monday morning.