Chapter 68

Sabrina POV

After visiting with my childhood “nanny,” Martha, I felt so much better about my plans to steal the Silverfang pack from Nathan, and the throne from my father.

In fact, I was downright cheerful as I put the plan my mother and I had come up with into action.

Step one? Find allies.

Allies who weren’t shy about getting their hands dirty.

And I knew just where to start.

My journey to the Bloodclaw pack headquarters was long, and boring, especially since I couldn’t take the jet. I couldn’t risk Dad finding out about where I was going.

But when I walked into a board room filled with long time enemies of my father - some who had even been enemies of his father before his - I knew the journey had been worth it.

“Princess,” Alpha Soren said from the head of the table. “How…interesting to see you here.”

I met his small smile with one of my own. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Alpha Soren. And for gathering so many friends as well.”

Looking around the room, I noted Alpha Damien of the Ice River pack, from deep in the mountains beyond Royal pack territory, and Alpha Oliver and Luna Danelle from the Dark Moon pack, among a number of others.

Each one famed for being more ruthless than the last.

Perfect.

“We are no friends of yours,” Alpha Damien said flatly. Ice River pack members were always short on words and long on cold, cutting stares.

Faced with that stare, I didn’t even blink. Instead, I smiled.

“Oh, I think you will be,” I told him.

“In fact,” I said, taking a seat at the table and looking around at everyone. “I think you’ll all be very interested in what I’m proposing.”

Alpha Oliver and his Luna Danelle exchanged glances with each other, then others in the room.

“We’re listening,” Alpha Oliver said.

“What I’m proposing is an alliance. I want you to help me frame my father, ruining his reputation. Then I can seize the throne. In exchange, I’ll offer you condition-free trade agreements, Royal favor, official alliance between our packs - whatever you want.”

More and more eyebrows raised around the room as I spoke.

Frame the Royal Alpha, so his daughter can take the throne away from him?

Free trade, Royal favor, official alliance - any one of these alone might motivate someone to do what I was proposing, or worse.

All three together was an almost irresistible option.

And that was before anyone factored in getting the chance to help take down a long time enemy.

Some of the people in this room had hated my father for longer than I’d been alive.

Finally, after a long period of questions and answer, debating and deliberating, everyone decided:

It was time to take down the Royal Alpha.

“But how do you propose we do this?” said Alpha Damien.

“We could use the rogues?” someone said.

There were murmurs of agreement.

The thick woods around the Royal pack territory were notoriously full of rogues who had been exiled from their own packs.

Every year people traveled to the Royal Court, to appeal the exile their packs sentenced them to. Some won their appeals, but most lost and became rogues. And many of those rogues found their way into the woods beyond the boundaries of the pack.

Rogues willing to do just about anything for money, if the price was right.

“Why not?” said Luna Danelle. “It worked before when we took down the old Royal Alpha.”

Her husband took her hand, kissing her knuckles. “It did, indeed, my love. Using rogues to attack an enemy’s borders is the perfect way to distract him from what’s going on right in his own home.”

“I agree,” Soren said. “We can use rogues to attack outlying villages, and lay in wait for travelers along less used country roads. And,” he added, “we can spread rumors that they’re working for the Royal Alpha himself.”

“Why would people believe Dad was paying rogues to attack his own people though?” I asked.

Soren’s smile was as sharp as a knife. “Because he’s insane. Everyone knows an old man suffering from the frenzy is going to be paranoid, and violent.

“We’ll plant letters on the rogues, so if they’re caught people will think he’s using the rogues to hunt pack members he believes are working against him.”

I was impressed by his deviousness, as was everyone else.

Alpha Damien looked around the room, making eye contact with each person, waiting for their nod before moving on.

At last he looked at me. “It is agreed. We will help you remove your father from the throne.”

I thanked them, and formally shook their hands as they left.

Then I sat back down, feeling stunned. It worked!

I was going to unseat my father from his throne.

“That went well,” Soren said, sitting down beside me after escorting the last person out of the office.

“It did,” I said. “It really, really did.”

“Of course…” He leaned back in his chair, steepling his hands together and watching me over his fingertips.

“What?”

“Well, what’s to stop any one of those people from simply invading once your father’s off the throne? Your pack will be weakened by the rogue attacks and the loss of their leader.

“What’s your plan if one of us wants more than just a Royal alliance? What if we decide we want the throne?”

I felt my face pale.

Was he threatening me?

He smiled. “Relax, Princess. I’m just thinking out loud.”

Lowering his hands, he sat forward in his seat. “But you do need a backup plan. Something to make sure you keep the throne - and keep your head on your shoulders.”

I watched him warily. “And I assume you have that kind of plan?”

He smiled, a lightning fast change of expression. “I do.

“Marry me.”

I blinked in surprise.

“Excuse me?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “It’s simple. Marry me, and I’ll act as your own personal body guard.”

“Why on earth would you do that??”

“Isn’t it obvious? I want more than Royal favor for my pack. I want my children to sit on the throne. A marriage with you can make that happen.”

It wasn’t an unreasonable offer, I realized. Marriages were almost always political at the Royal level, and having Soren’s protection might be worth it.

Except there was a problem.

“I’m already engaged,” I said. “To Alpha Nathan, from Silverfang. I plan to use that pack as a core group of supporters once I take the throne.

“With Silverfang behind me, even my father’s most loyal supporters won’t have a choice but to bow to me.”

Soren waved that away as if it was just a minor detail. “Do it then. Marry the Alpha, then take his pack for your own. Give me the Silverfang territory - not the pack - and agree to marry me once you get Nathan out of the way.”

It was a good offer. And yet I hesitated.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about aligning myself with Alpha Soren.

But I did need his protection…

Then I smiled.

I could take care of him later, once the dust settled and the throne was totally mine.

It wouldn’t be hard to arrange for Soren to have a little “accident.” Being an Alpha was such a dangerous job, after all.

“Alright,” I said, reaching out to shake his hand. “You protect me, and I’ll give you Silverfang territory. And my hand in marriage.”

We shook on it, and I left Bloodclaw territory feeling incredibly satisfied with the way things went.

And ready to move on to part two of my plan.