Chapter 75

Beta Evan POV

The Duchess rushed out the door, crying that she had to return to the Royal pack. I stared after her, the full implication of what we’d just discovered sinking into my brain.

Princess Sabrina had been poisoning my Alpha with an illegal blend of mind control herbs.

I had known something was wrong for weeks, but chalked up the changes in Alpha Nathan’s behavior to the stress he was under professionally, running for Alpha President, and everything that had been happening in his personal life.

Losing Claire had hurt him, I knew. I’d been against his relationship with the Omega all these years, but seeing how it affected him when she left, I had begun to accept that she truly was his fated mate.

An Alpha without his mate was simply incomplete, I knew. So surely that could explain the changes in him.

But as time went on, I’d begun to suspect that something else was wrong. I couldn’t name it or even really describe it, but I knew it was there.

And now I had my answer: mind control, poison, Princess Sabrina.

Shaking my head over the state of the situation, I walked over to Nathan, where he still sat staring out the window. I wondered if he even remembered I was there.

“Alpha, I’m going to help you up now,” I said, reaching down to take his arm.

He rose slowly, moving like he was half asleep. I was surprised by how easy he was to pull, how much weight he’d lost.

And anger began to burn inside me, low and slow.

Someone was going to pay for doing this to my Alpha.

I spent the rest of the morning trying to clear Nathan’s head, first by forcing him into a cold shower, then getting him strong coffee and a good hot meal.

Anything I could think of to flush that toxic tea out of his system.

“Sir…” the butler said, hovering in the doorway of the kitchen as I made Nathan lunch. “Will the Alpha be alright?”

I had noticed the servants lingering in the house like shadows, hurrying out of my way, not looking me in the eye.

And my anger, simmering for hours, finally found a target.

I slammed down the knife I had picked up to cut the Alpha’s sandwich and marched over to the butler. He backed away from me, holding his hands up in front of himself as if to ward off an attack.

I kept walking until he was pressed against the wall.

“What do you care?? You’ve been poisoning him!”

He stared up at me, eyes wide and frightened. His face drained of color when I mentioned poison.

“What…?! No! Sir, I - we would never - We didn’t know!”

I studied his face for a long silent moment, but finally accepted at least that part as truth.

The servants hadn’t known what was in the tea.

And yet…

“But you’ve seen first hand and up close just how much his behavior has changed. You knew something was going on. And you did nothing!”

He looked away from me, ashamed. “We did know, sir. But…”

He raised his gaze to mine, his eyes shimmering with tears. “Princess Sabrina has made the most vicious threats toward us and our families, sir. We - we’re all afraid of her and what she could have done to us.”

I swore, my anger fading into frustration.

This man wasn’t to blame for what was going on here.

He was just another one of Sabrina’s victims.

I was beginning to suspect she had more than a few.

“I understand,” I said reluctantly, taking a step back and giving the man some space. He sagged in relief.

Going back into the kitchen, I gave Nathan the sandwich I made. As he ate the color returned to his face, and the look on his face changed. He no longer looked around him like a half-drunk old man.

He was beginning to look awake, alert. More like himself.

The relief I felt was gigantic.

“Sir, how are you feeling?”

He pushed his now empty plate away from him. “Better,” he said after a moment of thought.

“But also strange. My recent memories are so foggy and jumbled. What’s been going on, Beta?”

I took a breath. “It pains me to say, sir, but you’ve been drugged. For weeks.”

His gaze sharpened. “Drugged?! How?”

“It was in the tea, sir. The one Princess Sabrina made for you.”

His hand on the table tightened into a fist, and the look on his face darkened to one of rage. “Sabrina,” he growled.

I nodded. “As far as I can tell, her plan was to begin taking over the pack. She wouldn’t let anyone see you, and issued orders in your name, forged your signature on documents.

“Including a document ordering Silverfang pack members not to go or send aid to the Royal pack.”

He frowned, clearly confused. “Why would the Royals need our aid?”

With a shock I realized Alpha Nathan had no idea what had been happening to the Royal pack.

“Because their entire territory is under attack, sir. And it has been for weeks.”

“Under attack?? By who? Explain.”

The commanding tone, the demand for an explanation soothed the ball of worry in my stomach.

Alpha Nathan was coming back to himself.

Finally.

“It began as a few isolated random attacks at the border,” I said. “Just some rogue wolves attacking villages and stealing their supplies, or robbing travelers on isolated back roads.

“But it escalated quickly. By all reports the Royal pack is now dealing with attacks on all sides almost daily.”

“So the entire kingdom is now being threatened?”

I nodded. “Yes, sir. It’s unclear how so many rogues are working together in what seems like a coordinated and organized fashion. But my information indicates the kingdom is struggling to defend itself, and may even be overtaken soon.”

He shook his head. “This is madness. What of the packs that share those borders, have they been unsuccessful in fighting these rogues as well?”

I sighed. “That’s another part of the puzzle, sir. No other packs have come to the assistance of the Royals. In fact, many other Alphas and Lunas have issued orders almost identical to the one you gave about not sending aid.

Or rather, the one Sabrina made in your name,” I added quickly.

“They’ve made it illegal to help. And so the royal pack is almost entirely all on its own. And their situation grows more dire with every passing day.”

I watched his face as he absorbed this information. So I saw the very moment he thought of Claire, and what the danger to her pack’s territory might mean for her.

First his eyes grew wide, then they narrowed, and his jaw firmed in a look of absolute determination.

He stood and strode out of the kitchen, walking quickly to his office. I followed behind, hurrying to keep up.

“I’m rescinding the order Sabrina issued in my name. I want you to begin spreading the word immediately.

“We’re going to send all the help we can.”

My heart leapt as he began reeling off orders about how to prepare, what to do and where to go.

We were finally going to join the battle!

He wrote out a list of instructions as I got my phone out and began making phone calls.

“I need you to see to these things as well,” he said. “And I expect you to meet me personally at the Royal pack as soon as possible.”

I took the list, then looked back up at him.

“What are you going to do, Alpha?”

“I’m leaving immediately,” he said grimly.

“I have to go find Claire.”