Chapter 62

Sabrina POV

I hung up my phone and set it back down on the table with a sharp slap the morning after the banquet at the country estate.

The banquet where Nathan and Claire danced together, swaying so close their entire bodies touched.

And now he was ignoring my calls??

Unacceptable.

I wanted to see him before he returned home to the Silverfang pack. Or rather, I wanted to be seen with him by the public, and the press.

Claire had been getting entirely too much attention from the media lately.

Even my friend, the editor of The Star, told me there was nothing she could do about the articles they’d been running lately - articles that painted a far too pretty picture of Claire.

“My hands are tied,” she said when I called her. “I have to give the people what they want.”

And lately all it seemed they wanted was more and more information about their precious long lost little Princess.

I gritted my teeth in frustration, then got up to pace.

It just didn’t make any sense!

Here I was, the Royal Princess the pack had known for nearly my entire life, engaged not just to the Alpha of an up and coming pack, but to a candidate - a strong candidate - for the Alpha Presidency.

And all they wanted was more of the lost Omega Princess.

Suddenly I froze.

Then I began to grin.

Picking up my phone, I fired off a message to the editor, telling her to send a reporter to the palace as soon as possible.

They were about to be granted an exclusive interview with the new princess.

Give the people what they want, right?

Later that day, with the reporter and her camera man following behind me, I found Claire in her usual evening spot: the library.

Perfect.

“Oh hello,” I said to her, breezing in.

I began to direct the reporter and her camera man. “I think over here, by the fire, would be lovely. Don’t you agree?”

“What’s going on?” Claire asked, lowering the book she was reading.

I waved a hand. “Just a little interview they want to do with me. About the wedding, you know.”

“Oh. I see. I’ll get out of your way,” she said, rising from her chair beside the fire.

“Actually…Would you be a dear, and help them get set up? I have to freshen up my makeup,” I said. “Just sit here in this chair while they adjust the lighting and everything. I’ll be right back.”

Without giving her a chance to say no, I hurried out of the room and down the hall, to another entrance. This one led to a staircase going to the upper floor of the library - a perfect place to watch Claire make a complete fool of herself.

I settled into a chair, struggling to suppress my laughter.

This was going to be great.

Claire sat in a chair next to the fire, turned toward where the camera was now set up on a tripod. The reporter clipped a mike to the front of Claire’s shirt, then sat in a chair across from her.

“Princess, if you wouldn’t mind just saying a few words, so we can make sure the microphone works?”

Claire, clearly flustered, cleared her throat. “Um, what should I say?”

The reporter smiled. “Something simple is fine. How about your name?”

“Alright. My name is Claire - I mean, Princess Claire.”

The reporter tilted her head to the side. “But it wasn’t always, right? You weren’t ‘Princess’ Claire when you lived with the Silverfang pack, were you?”

“I, uh, no. No I wasn’t.”

“See, I find that just fascinating. The idea that a Royal Princess somehow ended up so far away, in an orphanage. Raised as an Omega - and a wolfless!”

From my vantage point, I could see the polite smile on Claire’s face fall away, and her face grew pale.

“That’s…how did you know that?”

I couldn’t see the reporter’s face as clearly, but I heard the satisfaction in her voice. She had obviously been listening earlier when I told her what I knew of Claire’s past as we walked through the palace.

“I have my sources. Now, let’s see: Separated from the Royal pack - somehow. Brought to an orphanage in the Silverfang pack territory - somehow. And then raised as an Omega, without a wolf.

“And then magically your wolf appears, you develop these apparent ‘healing abilities,’ and then all of a sudden discover you’re a Princess!”

The reporter leaned forward in her seat.

“That’s quite a lot of question marks and convenient revelations, wouldn’t you say? Princess?

“Especially for someone who worked as a mere Omega nanny??”

I leaned forward in my own seat, gripping the rail of the balcony.

This was it!

Claire’s peasant past was being fully revealed. Now people would see just how unworthy she was of a Royal title.

I’d been imagining this moment, relishing the idea of Claire being embarrassed and devastated.

She’d leave the Royal pack in disgrace, and all would be right with my world once more.

Except Claire didn’t seem embarrassed by the questions. She didn’t burst into tears, or run away.

She just…told the truth.

“It’s true,” she said. “I was raised as an orphan. As an Omega and a wolfless. And my life was very hard.

“Life can be cruel for an Omega. I did what I had to do to support myself while being treated so poorly. So yes, I was a nanny. And I loved my work, truly.”

A long pause met Claire’s declaration, the reporter was clearly as caught off guard as I was by her simple honest answer.

I dug my nails into the railing.

What kind of game was she playing??

But before the interview could continue, an unexpected voice boomed into the room.

“What is going on here?! I demand to know the meaning of this!”

The reporter jumped as my father’s voice boomed inside the room. He strode into the room, clearly enraged.

“Who do you think you are, ambushing my daughter like this? And questioning her about her past?? How dare you!

“My daughter has dealt with more struggles than you can imagine - and I’m proud of the person she’s become. I’ve never - ”

The rest of what he was going to say was choked off as he began to growl and breathe heavily.

Realizing what was happening, I smiled.

His anger was triggering one of his frenzy episodes. The rage and fury of such an episode could be dangerous.

He might attack the reporter or the cameraman or, if I was very lucky, even Claire.

And it would all be caught on camera.

Dad fell to all fours, his body arching and writhing in obvious pain. The growling and snarling continued, rumbling from deep within his chest.

Everyone else jumped to their feet, the reporter hurrying away from him and Claire stepping toward him.

Perfect. She’d be the first one he’d take out when he shifted into a wild, frenzied wolf.

“It’s alright, everyone,” Claire said. “It’s going to be alright. Dad, can you hear me? I’m going to help you.”

Then she touched him, laying her hands on either side of his head. A warm golden glow began to leak out from between her fingers.

Dad’s breathing became less frantic, and the growls slowly stopped.

Within moments he was slowly climbing back to his feet, his episode clearly halted.

I stared in amazement, as did the camera man and reporter.

“Princess!” the reporter exclaimed. “You - you truly are a healer. That was incredible.

“My poor uncle suffered from the frenzy for years, as do many others. Are you really able to treat it?”

Claire stood next to my father, supporting him as he recovered his breath.

“I am. And I believe there may some day even be hope for a cure.”

The reporter gasped. “A cure?? You really are the late Queen’s daughter. No one has had abilities even close to hers in decades.

“Sir,” she said, turning to my father. “How is it that the Princess and her amazing talent were taken from our pack so many years ago?”

His expression hardened. “I don’t know. But I am determined to find out.”

My heart dropped. I knew that look on his face.

He truly was determined.

And he wouldn’t stop until he had answers.

Answers I didn’t want him to find.

I left the balcony as quietly as possible.

Setting up Claire hadn’t gone anywhere near the way I’d hoped.

And now I was afraid as well as enraged.

My stupid ‘father’ was going to start sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.

What was I going to do??