Chapter 11

～Grace～

“ALPHA KING LIAM REPLACED HIS LUNA FOR AN OMEGA AT CHARITY BANQUET!”

Headlines reporting on the fiasco between Liam, Alex, and I came out the very next morning, and were plastered on the front page of every news site.

Everyone was talking about it.

This had been the first backlash Liam had ever faced in his three years of reign, and I just knew he was close to a breakdown. He was never able to handle criticism well.

I read through an article highlighting the drama.

“Alpha King Liam refused to purchase a pair of moonstone earrings for Luna Grace, after she had bidded on them.”

“The Lycan King purchased them instead, and gave them to Luna Grace as a gift, indicating Alpha King Liam could not buy them himself.”

“Is this true? Does Alpha King Liam not have the funds to purchase the expensive earrings, or did he simply not want to?”

A smile played on my lips. Everything had gone exactly as planned. Liam had to be feeling the heat, now.

I clicked on another article.

“The Alpha King had brought an Omega as his date to a charity event, and everyone is blowing up over it, but they’ve got it all wrong!”

“While it is certainly untraditional to bring a date that isn’t your Luna, by bringing an Omega, Alpha King Liam is helping break down the class discrimination that runs so prominently through our society!”

“He shows us that Omegas deserve their place in the inner workings of werewolves and have a right to be represented and participate in events.”

I frowned. That’s certainly a way to look at it.

“Let’s not overlook the fact that his Luna had also brought her own date, the Lycan King! This wasn’t a scandal, it was intentional.”

I hissed under my breath. Of course, not every media outlet was going to report the truth or what I wanted, but I didn’t like how much attention this article was getting.

I scrolled through comments, most of which supported Liam and his “unorthodox leading.”

Looking back through the trending articles, however, most of them ran with the scandal story. Surprisingly, I found many articles praising Alex for his substantial donation for the charity.

I wondered how he felt about that. Does he even look at the news? He had to, in as powerful of a political position that he’s in.

I closed my phone. Liam had been in such a wreck that he hadn’t even noticed me come into our house.

I watched silently as he snapped at Sophia, who seemed on the verge of tears. I slipped into a room and watched them through the crack in the door run around the house, arguing, before leaving.

Both of them had left to handle the PR crisis, which left the house empty.

It was silent, now.

I waited a minute until I was sure they really had left, and stepped out into the hallway.

The media scandal was making good progress with my plan, but ultimately, it only was baseless rumors. I needed solid evidence to put some real power behind my claims.

Liam’s office had to hold the financial records of the pack. Then, I could prove his misuse of the pack’s funds.

I opened the door, and began searching.

Because I rarely went in here, I had no idea where Liam could have stored something like this. All of the obvious places–drawers, shelves, books–came up empty. Where was it?

Frustrated, I began digging through every corner of his office.

Had he taken them? He must have hidden them somewhere after the rumors, he didn’t want anyone to pin evidence on him.

I cursed under my breath, having searched every single part of the office. My hair messily fell over my face as I stood, trying not to scream.

How would I find where he hid the documents? It’s not like I could just ask him.

The door opened behind me, and I whirled around, grabbing onto a cabinet for support.

Samuel?

A pale, freckled, blonde man entered, head down. It was too hard to tell if he was Samuel–I hadn’t gotten a good look at his face. He hadn’t noticed me, yet.

I quickly looked around. Shoot! There was nowhere to hide.

I moved backwards, trying to at least find some sort of cover behind the cabinet, but I knocked a clipboard off of the top.

It rattled to the floor, and the man looked up at me, startled.

“Luna Grace?” He asked, still as a statue.

Oh thank goodness, it really was just Samuel! Liam’s Beta had always been kind to me. If there was anyone in the pack who would help me now, it was him.

“Samuel, I’m so glad to see you,” I rushed out, breathless from the scare.

He looked at me nervously, and slowly slid his hand off of the door handle. “What are you doing here?”

He sounded cautious. Liam must have threatened him.

I shook my head with a sigh. “I need your help. Do you know where Liam might have taken the pack’s financial records?”

Samuel looked down, shifting his weight stiffly. “I-I don’t know, Luna Grace.”

My heart sank. He was obviously withholding information. If I could only convince him…

“Liam has been misusing the pack’s money, but I need the records to prove it. Please, Samuel, this is important.”

I saw him look up at me, and there was fear in his eyes. He didn’t respond.

Darn it, Samuel, I really need your help right now!

“This is for the good of the pack! I just want to help our people,” I pleaded.

Samuel looked away from me, jaw clenched. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes for a moment.

“I’m sorry, Grace. I can’t help you,” he said quietly. There was tenderness and remorse in his voice.

I hissed, frustrated, but I knew Liam must have said something horrible to Samuel to make him so afraid.

I forced a smile. I knew Samuel was battling with himself, I couldn’t blame him. I had put him in a difficult situation, having to choose between his Alpha and his Alpha’s Luna.

Walking towards him, Samuel kept his gaze away from mine. I placed my hand on his shoulder.

“I understand. I’ll give you time to think about it, you know my number,” I tell him gently.

He shot me a quick look, but just as quickly looked away. He wouldn’t respond.

“Take care of yourself, Samuel,” I say, and leave him in Liam’s office.

In the bedroom Alex provided for me, I set down my things and sat on the soft bed, sighing. I hadn’t made much progress today.

I had dressed up to go to Liam’s house–my old house–just in case I ran into Liam. I wouldn’t be caught dead looking less than spectacular in front of him.

But now I was in my room, I just wanted to take everything off and lay in bed.

I pulled my shirt off over my head, when a melodic chirp rang through the air.

Someone was calling me! I picked up my phone, which I had set on the bed. Alex.

I pressed the answer button, leaving it on the bed as I slid my pants off.

“Hey, give me a minute, I’ll be right there,” I called out to him, voice loud to make sure he heard me.

I didn’t hear a response, so I just finished slipping into a satin slip, and sat down on the bed.

Picking up the phone, I tossed my hair over my shoulder when I locked eyes with Alex through the screen.

I screamed, dropping my phone.

I didn’t know it was a video call! I was so preoccupied that I hadn’t even noticed when I answered!

“How long have you been watching?” I snapped, angling the phone away from my body.

Alex only laughed. “Nice pajamas.”

“Why didn’t you say something earlier?” I questioned.

“I wanted to see it,” Alex responded simply, as if that was a reasonable answer.

I placed the phone down, fuming.

“Your highness. You're so big.” The faint sound of a woman moaning came from my phone’s speakers, and I froze.

“Alex, what are you doing right now?”

“What any man would do,” his gruff voice responded, and my face turned red.

How indecent! Maybe he thought I was some cheap woman, but I was not. I quickly switched off the camera.

Insulted, I barked into the phone, “You should only contact me with business-related inquiries, nothing else. I am your professional partner, nothing more. Please respect that.”

I waited for a response, Alex’s heavy breathing filling the silence, before he laughed breathily. “As you wish.”

“Get out!” He told the female who was kneeling in front of him.

“Your highness. Let me try it again if you don't...” the female whispered.

“l said get out.” Alex's voice was low. The female fled out of the room without throwing another glance at him. He slowly sipped his whiskey as his gaze rested on me. My body felt warm.

Fed up with his antics, I moved my finger to end the call, but Alex spoke once again.

“I have something important to tell you.”