Chapter 59

Sabrina POV

I received a surprising message on my phone one morning:

I’m in your territory. We need to meet.

“How interesting,” I murmured when I read the text.

Nurse Devin was in Royal pack territory? And she wanted to meet?

I was immediately curious about what devious little plans she and Alpha Soren of Bloodclaw pack may have cooked up. So I answered her message with a time and place to meet early that afternoon.

Of course I made sure to arrive at the restaurant first, requesting a table toward the back so I could watch the whole room. I liked Devin’s sneaky little brain, but that didn’t mean I trusted her.

Not one bit.

I was surprised when I saw her walk in. The image I had of her in my head was still as a nurse wearing scrubs, with a name tag pinned to her chest and a stethoscope around her neck.

The woman who walked in was dressed just as elegantly - and expensively, as I was.

We greeted each other and sat down, looking from the outside like a typical lunch date between friends.

“I’m surprised to see you,” I said. “What are you doing here?”

Devin kept her voice low. “I’m here to get a job at the clinic. My orders are to get as close to Claire as possible. Make friends with her, if I can.”

I wrinkled my nose. I couldn’t imagine having to work at a clinic again, dealing with all those sick and sniveling peasants.

“Why do you need to do that?”

“Soren wants the healer for our pack.” She sighed. “He was…displeased to hear she left Silverfang territory. My job is to find a way to get her to come back home with me. Willingly, if possible. If not…”

Oh this was getting more and more interesting by the moment!

I smiled as I realized I wasn’t totally without allies in dealing with the stupid Omega after all.

“I think I can help you with that,” I said. “I’m going to cause the Omega trash so much trouble she’ll be begging Alpha Soren to take her in.”

We spent the rest of the lunch talking and laughing exactly like two girlfriends catching up with each other. But really we were laughing about the plan I was going to put into action the very next day.

When I left the restaurant, I stopped by the editor’s office of The Star newspaper. I knew no one better than her at making a story as sensational and juicy as possible.

“Can you have a photographer ready tomorrow afternoon, inside The Lunar Jewel?” I asked.

Her forehead wrinkled as she raised her eyebrows. “That expensive jewelry store? Why?”

“Trust me, just have them ready. You’ll get a front page story, I promise.”

She laughed. “I trust you to bring me the best gossip, that’s for sure. Alright, you’ll have your photographer. I look forward to seeing what you’ve got cooking.”

I left her office smiling, a bounce in my step.

Claire was going down.

Claire POV

After my first full week at work, I was looking forward to a relaxing weekend. I wanted to unwind and do as little as possible.

But Sabrina had other plans.

“Good morning, Sister,” she said at breakfast. Her friendly tone immediately made me suspicious.

“Good morning,” I said slowly as I sat, waiting for whatever barb she was about to throw at me.

But no barb came.

Instead she chatted with me during the meal, asking about my week, how I was settling in. All very normal conversation.

It made me nervous.

Exchanging looks with my cousin Catherine, I realized I wasn’t the only one who thought something was up.

“Listen,” Sabrina said at the end of the meal, as the servants took the plates away. “I’m going shopping with a few friends later. You should come along!”

I blinked in surprise. Sabrina wanted to…hang out with me??

It had to be some kind of trap.

“Actually, I was planning to - ”

“Oh come on - don’t you want to explore the city? You’ve only left the palace for work. You need a little retail therapy!”

“Darling girls, that is an excellent idea!” Dad said.

He’d been watching our conversation with a small smile on his face, clearly pleased that his children were getting along.

I looked from his happy face to Sabrina’s sharp smile and felt stuck.

How could I say no?

So I sighed and said, “Alright.”

Sabrina laughed and clapped her hands. “Excellent! I’m going to go get ready. It’s going to be so much fun!”

She hurried away, and I left the dining room at a slower pace, wondering what I was going to be walking into. Catherine joined me, looping her arm through mine as we walked upstairs toward our rooms.

“I don’t like it,” she said. “I just bet she’s got some nasty scheme or mean trick planned. That’s the only time Brina looks that cheerful.”

That sounded about right. “I thought so too. But what am I going to do? I feel like I have to go.”

“Oh you should definitely go,” Catherine said. “But not alone. I’ll make sure I’m at the store she told you about ahead of time.”

Relieved, I thanked her, then went to get dressed.

Sabrina had something up her sleeve, for sure. But at least I wouldn’t be alone in dealing with it.

That afternoon I joined Sabrina and her friends at a store called The Lunar Jewel, a very expensive boutique that specialized in making one of a kind jewelry by hand.

She greeted me warmly, and so did her friends. They were all tall and beautiful, in pretty summer dresses and sky high heels.

I felt like a little song bird surrounded by peacocks and flamingos.

Then I spotted Catherine further back in the store, half hidden behind a spinning rack of bracelets, and I felt less alone.

“Claire, you simply must come look at these rings! You should totally buy one. Let’s see what might suit you…”

Slipping a hand around my waist, Sabrina led me over to a display of gorgeous rings glittering brightly with rare gemstones. I felt one of her friends brush against me as she moved to the next counter area.

And all at once there was a slight weight in the pocket of my blazer.

Suddenly I flashed back to the orphanage.

When I was fourteen one of the mean girls at the orphanage had arranged a similar trick, planting something in my pocket in the hopes of getting me in trouble.

It worked - I went without dessert for a week when I was caught with stolen candy in my jacket pocket.

Not this time, I thought.

“I think I’ll pass on the rings,” I said. “But maybe a bracelet?” I added a little louder, hoping Catherine would understand my signal.

“Oh, if it’s bracelets you want, I know a cute little place that sells things you might like. Why don’t we go there?”

Around us all of Sabrina’s friends agreed quickly, clearly eager to try to leave now that their plan was in motion.

But Catherine had understood my signal, and hurried over.

“Sabrina! Claire! What a pleasant surprise. I didn’t know you were coming here today.”

Catherine gave Sabrina and I each a brief hug.

“Blazer pocket,” I whispered to Catherine, and felt her hand quickly dip into and out of that pocket.

“And hello to all your friends as well. Oops, I’m sorry,” she said, after bumping into one of the other women. “How clumsy of me.”

I saw my cousin’s hand move by the woman’s purse, and caught a quick little twinkle of light as the piece of jewelry that had just been in my pocket slipped inside.

“Cousin,” Sabrina said, her smile firmly in place. “Lovely to see you. Sadly, we were just leaving. Come on, everyone.”

Everyone turned for the door, and as expected, the alarm immediately began to blare.

Sabrina and her friends all stepped away from me with shocked looks on their faces.

“Claire, what have you done?” she yelled. “Did you steal something??”

And the flash of a camera went off, a man I hadn’t noticed before stepped out away from the wall to catch the whole scene.

But when the security guard used a hand detector to find the tagged piece of jewelry, he didn’t find it in my pocket.

He found it in the purse of one of Sabrina’s friends.

After a moment of confusion, Sabrina’s wide eyes narrowed and she stared at Catherine and me.

Catherine grinned, obviously delighted to have helped sabotage Sabrina’s plot to publicly humiliate me.

But though I was happy not to have been made a fool of, a large part of me felt uneasy.

Sabrina wouldn’t just let an embarrassment like this slide.

What kind of revenge was she going to plan now?