Chapter 84

Claire POV

The crowd backed away from me as I pushed further into the room, leaving me in a bubble of empty space.

Everyone stared at me.

I could feel the heat and press of bodies surrounding me, closing me in, cutting off the air.

And for a moment all I wanted to back away, to escape from this room and those stares.

To run, and just keep running.

I’d spent my whole life learning to hide from people’s gazes, to avoid drawing attention to myself.

Or else face the consequences.

And as a wolfless Omega, there had been plenty of consequences to face.

But that was before.

Before my wolf and my healing abilities emerged.

Before the truth of my heritage was finally discovered.

Before I truly knew who I was.

Now, faced with the staring crowd, I felt those old urges to run and hide rising strong inside of me.

And then I felt them fade away.

I stood tall beneath the weight of all those watchful expressions, squaring my shoulders and raising my voice once more above the noise.

“Sabrina has been telling you nothing but lies! My father isn’t mad, and he isn’t the responsible for attacking his own people!

“Sabrina is the true reason for the rogue attacks on the Royal territory.”

Looks of disbelief met this statement, but I continued.

“She has been conspiring with old enemies of my father, forming an alliance against him!”

People gasped, their eyes wide.

“I don’t believe it!” someone near me said.

“I refuse to believe it!” yelled another. “The Princess has been nothing but good to our pack.”

“Has she?” I countered. “Is that why she’s spreading lies about my father’s mental state? Is that why she’s been feeding you false information about your own Alpha??”

Eyes shifted now to Nathan as he stood beside me, clearly not sick or ill in any way.

He stepped forward, looking around at the people gathered in front of him.

“It’s true,” he said, his deep voice ringing with authority. “Sabrina has been lying to all of us, twisting the truth to her own designs.”

“All in an attempt to steal Silverfang from the Alpha,” I said. “And then use you to invade the Royal pack.

“So she can claim the throne for herself. Her goal was never to protect this pack. It was always just to use it. To use you.”

On the stage Sabrina laughed, obviously beginning to get over the shock of seeing both me and Nathan burst into the room. Or at least pretending to.

But I could see the fear still in her eyes, the worry she was trying to hide.

“Can you believe this? Do any of you actually believe her outrageous lies??”

She shook her head. “The so-called princess is just as crazy as the Royal Alpha. And just as dangerous - it’s clear she’s somehow taken control of your Alpha’s mind.

“She’s polluted him with her lies and manipulations.”

She sneered at me. “You will be arrested, Omega. And you will be put down like the sick worthless dog that you are. Guards!”

There was a surge in the crowd around us, and then a half dozen enforcers appeared, ready to follow Sabrina’s orders.

Nathan stepped in front of me with a growl, and I felt his security detail that traveled with us from the Royal territory close in behind us.

I tensed, thinking that this could get very bloody, very quickly.

“No!” I yelled, stepping out from around Nathan, despite his warning growl.

His first thought was to protect me.

But I needed to protect everyone in this room. Or the day would end in an absolute bloodbath.

“Listen, everyone! Your Alpha has been bravely infiltrating the woods around the Royal territory, capturing rogues and interrogating them.

“He now has testimony from several captured rogues that Sabrina has indeed formed an alliance with old enemies of my father. And they are the ones behind the attacks.”

Everyone was watching me now, the guards no longer seeming like they were quite so eager to attack me, or their Alpha.

And I knew - it was time to reveal the whole truth.

“There’s more!” I yelled, making sure my voice carried up over the people directly in front of me.

Everyone in the room needed to hear what I had to say next.

“Sabrina has been lying to everyone - for years! She is not my father’s daughter. She isn’t even a Royal.

“Sabrina is a false princess!”

I turned and took the report from Nathan, holding it high above my head.

“And we have the proof right here!”

“No!” cried the crowd.

“This is too much - I don’t believe it!”

“A false princess? After Dr. Green was revealed to be a long-lost princess? This is truly unbelievable.”

Sabrina, her face pale with shock, her eyes fixed on the report in my hand, still tried to recover the ground she was quickly losing.

“Yes,” she said, then cleared her voice. “Yes, it is unbelievable, isn’t it? Truly astounding, the lies that some people will try to pass off as the truth, just to try and stop someone who is actually trying to help this pack and its members.”

“Enough!” Nathan shouted, an Alpha’s commanding tone instantly ceasing all noise in the room.

Even Sabrina stopped talking, stunned into silence.

“I have had enough of your lies, Sabrina.

“It’s true,” he continued, addressing the gathered audience. “Everything Princess Claire said is true. Sabrina has been in alliance with enemies of the Royal pack. She’s behind the rogue attacks.”

He pointed to the report I still held up. “The Royal Alpha himself began to suspect her treachery. He was the one who ordered that test, to determine if Sabrina truly is his daughter.

“And she is not.”

His voice hardened. “The false princess has fooled you. And she also fooled me,” he added, staring hard up at Sabrina.

“But that stops today.”

He looked at the guards still surrounding us, now standing uncertainly, not sure what to do.

“Enforcers of Silverfang! Defenders of the pack! I order you to arrest the false princess.”

A number of guards exchanged confused looks with each other, while others stood confused and frozen, looking back and forth between Nathan and Sabrina.

But a few jumped immediately into action, turning to push back through the crowd, heading in Sabrina’s direction.

And that’s when the Bloodclaw enforcers emerged from the backstage area, sending panic through the crowd.

“Bloodclaw!”

“What are they doing here??”

“Are we under attack?!”

“Get them!” Nathan shouted, moving forward with his own security detail.

But the room was packed, the crowd like a wall between Nathan and the stage.

I watched helplessly as Alpha Soren himself appeared, his eyes finding mine.

It was a brief look that passed between us, but one that made me shiver with fear.

There was murder in his eyes. But more, there was a cold kind of possessiveness that made me vow never to end up in a room alone with him.

He was a man who expected to get, or do, whatever he wanted. Whenever he wanted to.

And this was the man Sabrina had obviously aligned herself with.

As I watched, Alpha Soren and his enforcers surrounded Sabrina, creating a wall of protection around her.

And whisked her away.