Chapter 51

Claire POV

I rushed to my car after Nathan threatened to lock me up and hold me prisoner.

How could he make that kind of threat, and expect me to want to stay with him??

As I drove away, I watched the figure of the man I had loved and devoted myself to for years slowly fade into the distance.

And my heart shattered.

I left Silverfang pack territory the next day.

Amelia came over early in the morning to see me off, and we hugged goodbye tearfully. I knew we would always be friends, but neither of us knew when we might see each other again.

Much as I had wanted to move on with my life, there was a lot I was sad to leave behind me. And I hadn’t realized just how enormous it would feel to know I was stepping out into the complete unknown.

The Royal Alpha smiled and patted my hand as his Beta drove us away from the apartment building. He seemed to understand the tears in my eyes, and all the big emotions swirling around inside me.

At the airport I made a small noise of surprise as Beta Garrett turned away from the main parking area, pulling around to a large building at the back of the airport.

“This is where my private plane is parked. We won’t have to deal with any of the fuss in the airport itself,” the Alpha told me.

We stepped out of the car and walked right up to a large, sleek plane with the stairs already down and waiting for us.

I’d never been on a plane before, and I certainly had no idea what to expect from a private jet.

But whatever I might have thought to expect, it certainly wasn’t the absolute luxury that met my eyes when I walked up the stairs and stepped inside.

Leather seats, sofas, work desks, a large dining area - the passenger cabin was bigger than the apartment I’d just left behind.

I stood in the middle of the brightly lit space, marveling at the richness and comfort.

“Alpha, your plane…This is incredible.”

“Our plane,” he corrected gently. “This is yours now too, Claire.

“Anything you need from now on,” he said, leading me to a deeply cushioned seat, “All you have to do is say the word.”

I shook my head in amazement as the Alpha directed his Beta to prepare our breakfast.

What had my life come to?

Just a few short months ago, I was still living a life of secrecy and shame. Just a wolfless Omega. Someone to look down on and abuse.

And now here I was in a royal private jet, about to head off into a life I never would have even thought to dream of when I was still a nanny.

The plane’s engines started up with a quiet thrumming, and we began to move out onto the private landing strip. Within moments we were taking off, the plane climbing into the air.

My stomach dropped and I pressed my hand to it, afraid I might embarrass myself by being sick. But then the plane leveled off, and the early morning sun shone through the windows. Below us, Silverfang territory glowed gold.

It was magical.

The Beta brought our breakfast, and the Royal Alpha toasted me with his coffee.

“Here’s to the first day of your new life,” he said, smiling.

I toasted him with my own coffee. “I’m…a little overwhelmed by all of this. Can you tell me more about where we’re going? I’m sorry to say I know very little about the Royal pack.”

“With pleasure,” he said, obviously pleased with my interest. “The Royal pack has become, under my rule, a very wealthy and successful pack. But it took a lot of work to get here.

“My father spent his entire reign working to secure our borders, and his position on the throne. He had a number of cousins fighting for the throne, and it wasn’t easy keeping the pack from falling into one of their hands.”

I had heard some of this in school growing up, of course, but it was something else entirely to hear it from someone whose own father was one of the historical figures I’d learned about.

“When my father fell in battle, it became my job to secure our borders, the throne and my own position as Alpha. That was a very different time. A violent, bloody time indeed.”

His expression darkened, and I realized that must have also been the time during which I was separated from the Royal pack. The mystery of what happened to me, and how I came to be raised as an orphan with the Silverfang pack, loomed over me like a shadow.

But it was a mystery I knew the Alpha had no answers to, and so solving it would have to wait.

“Now that the pack is secure,” he went on, “the role of the Royal family is now focused on supporting the other packs in the realm, and their Alphas. And we take a very active role in ruling the realm on a daily basis.”

I swallowed the last of my breakfast, feeling it catch in my throat.

Just how “active” a role was I going to be expected to perform?

I didn’t know anything about being a royal, or ruling over the realm!

What had I gotten myself into??

My anxiety built over the next hour, and as the plane began its descent so did my stomach. Nerves and worry flitted around like butterflies.

Then, when we landed, a crowd of people rushed forward as we started down the plane’s steps.

Alarmed, I took a step backward.

“Has something happened??” I asked. “Is there an emergency?”

Surely there must be an accident somewhere, for that many people to be coming at us, all talking at once.

But I was wrong.

“It’s just the media, sweetheart. The press,” the Alpha chuckled. “They’re here to meet their princess.”

The butterflies in my belly turned to lead as my stomach dropped. By the time we were at the base of the stairs the area was surrounded by dozens of people with cameras and lights and microphones. More lights flashed as cameras went off.

I felt lost in the noise, my eyes dazzled by the lights, my mind overwhelmed by all the voices speaking at once.

“Princess! Princess Claire! How does it feel to be home?”

“Where have you been for all these years?”

“What’s going to be your first order of business now that you’ve returned to the Royal court?”

So many questions, coming from so many directions.

Part of me realized I should have been prepared for this. Even in the Silverfang pack the media was an almost constant presence in Nathan’s life.

There had been plenty of times we’d had reporters all but camped out on our lawn during particularly eventful periods, when everyone wanted to know what their Alpha was going to do about something.

Nathan had always handled press conferences with confidence and ease. I’d never thought twice about what it must be like to face that many people all hungry for news, or gossip, or the next big scoop.

In reality, it was terrifying.

I felt my mouth go dry, and I realized:

I had no idea how to be a princess.