Chapter 145 – Damage Control

As soon as Hugo entered the room, I shoved Ella behind me, a vicious snarl twisting my lips. My wolf was on high alert, his possessive instincts—heightened by his recent mate claim—spinning wildly, stronger than I’d ever felt. She's mine, he thought angrily. He shouldn't even look at her. I couldn't process my beta's words; I was too preoccupied with guarding Ella, despite knowing my old friend posed no threat. A protective wolf, however, is beyond reason, and mine only knew another male was near my precious, pregnant mate.

Ella, ever the troublemaker, wriggled back into my lap, placing herself between me and my target. She tilted my glowing eyes to hers, framing my face with her small hands. I glowered at the insolent creature, displeased she was preventing me from attacking the interloper. But Ella stared back with unwavering calm. Stop being ridiculous, her silken voice sounded in my head. It's only Hugo, and I have eyes for no one but you.

It's not your eyes I'm worried about, my wolf grumbled. He'd be a fool not to want you, and he can't have you. I lowered my mouth to her fresh, red mark, breathing in her scent and gently nibbling her tender skin. Mine, mine, mine. A noticeable shiver ran down Ella's spine, and my wolf puffed out his chest with masculine pride. "Naughty mate," I rumbled, positively crowing when she shuddered again, and the scent of her arousal wafted up. Her body might be exhausted, but her wolf was as insatiable as my own. Challenging me, pretending to be calm and reasonable when you crave my dominance as much as I need to exert it. Come on, let me bite him just a little—a warning bite, so he remembers who you belong to.

"You're impossible," Ella's amused voice accused, tempting me to turn her over my knee and remind her who was in charge. If I wanted to attack my beta, who was she to stop me? Didn't she realize how special, how invaluable she was? Besides, he'd said there was a problem. We needed to hear him out—what if the Prince was planning another attack? He must be furious we'd thwarted his plan.

This thought brought reason crashing down, subduing my wolf and refocusing my attention on Hugo, who'd been watching our silent exchange with understanding, but quickly waning patience. "What is it?" I demanded, snuggling Ella closer.

"We just received a report that the Current is preparing to publish a story about Ella's background," Hugo announced, referring to one of Moon Valley's few newspapers aligned politically with the Prince. "Apparently, the Prince sent spies to the shadow pack to investigate her past… and they discovered we'd been lying about her identity. They don't know she's human, but they know we haven't been honest."

"What?" I hissed, horrified and devastated by the fear and guilt radiating from Ella. I instinctively began to purr, but when I looked down at my mate, she was frozen, her beautiful gold eyes wide with horror. "How did this happen?"

"I don't know," Hugo sighed. "If I had to guess, I'd say this is another of Lydia's schemes—the timing suggests as much."

I let out a volley of ferocious swears, interrupting my purring and startling Ella. My wolf whined in regret, and I moved my hand to her round belly, checking on our pup. I felt a tiny pulse of unease and immediately resumed my purrs, not speaking again until both mother and child had relaxed. "I should have killed that bitch when I had the chance," I continued a moment later. "What's the Current's angle?"

Hugo looked reluctant, but eventually said, "That you've been running a morality campaign while lying to the people and the Alpha council. They're suggesting your entire relationship is a fraud, that Ella is a paid surrogate—they want to know if you have a comment."

"Can we stop it?" I asked. I owned some shares in the paper, but I feared my economic holdings wouldn't help if the pack turned against me. "Do you know if anyone else has the story?"

"Not yet," Hugo said grimly. "And I don't think we can convince them not to print it. They have proof Ella and Aileen aren't related, and that no one with her name ever resided in the territory."

"Damn it," I murmured, trying to process this.

"Dominic, what do we do?" Ella looked up at me with such trust and hope, and I realized she was looking to me for the answer—the solution. This incredible woman, who'd always relied on herself, trusted me enough to give me this responsibility. I couldn't let her down.

"Well…" I began slowly, considering the possibilities. "We have three options: We can get ahead of the story and release it ourselves—say Ella was a suppressed wolf, our love is real, but we hid her past while figuring out how to awaken her wolf. We can deny it, but that will likely prompt further investigation—tracing how Ella and I met and uncovering that she's human. We can disprove that now, but it will be messier if they discover the truth after we've insisted the story is false. Or we can say no comment and hope the story doesn't impact us."

"But it will impact us—you know it will," Hugo countered seriously. "Other papers will pick it up, and your refusal to acknowledge the reports will only allow the Prince and his opponents to make more outlandish accusations." He paced while I absentmindedly crooned and petted Ella, who had tears in her eyes, for a very different reason than moments before. I hated that our nascent joy was already crumbling… that she'd known nothing but fear and stress since entering my life, and that again, I couldn't protect her as I wanted—as she deserved.

"I think we need to get ahead of the story, control the narrative," Hugo advised, looking worried despite his confident tone. "The pack will be more outraged if they think your relationship is fake than if they believe you were protecting your mate when she couldn't access her wolf."

"I think Hugo is right," Ella said, her voice hoarse. "We can spin this in our favor only if we get the word out first."

I knew they were correct. The problem was, I had a terrible feeling this scandal might be my downfall. In many ways, the Current's reporters were telling the truth. I'd run a campaign on honesty and virtue, while lying to everyone to win. Did it matter that my motives were noble? That my only interest in being king was to keep a tyrant off the throne? That I'd never asked for this duty, but wouldn't shirk the responsibility?

My stomach was in knots, but I slowly nodded, knowing this was the only path forward, even if it led to a dead end. "Call a press conference," I instructed Hugo. "We'll announce Ella's claiming; her wolf has been dormant, but with the help of the pack elders, we awakened it. If they ask about her past, we'll admit we don't have answers, and that we're thrilled to have found each other and welcome our son. If they accuse us of playing politics, we'll say I believed Ella would be a bigger target if people knew how vulnerable she was."

"And the Prince?" Hugo asked, aware of my earlier conversation with my father. "Do you want to reveal his misdeeds—distract the press by claiming he tried to kill Ella and the babe, that you risked awakening her wolf while she was pregnant because he kidnapped her?"

For the first time in a long time, I didn't care about taking the high road. The Prince had gotten away with his crimes for too long, and it was time the people knew. "Fuck it," I growled, squeezing the sweet bundle in my arms. "Let's do it."