Chapter 38
Valarie
There were now only four days until the wedding.
My eyes opened and I stared up at the crumbling ceiling.
I slept in a large room with Morgan’s pack, all of us either on the floor or on cots. The first night or two had been tense. I had to breathe deeply to fight back the panic of knowing I was sleeping in the midst of enemies; people who would gladly kill me if they were given a chance.
I took a deep breath now and kept my eyes on the ceiling as bodies shifted around me, waking.
Two feet stood on either side of me, thighs towering over me. I looked up to see Tara standing there.
“The Alpha wants to see you.”
She spoke shortly and left quickly. Tara was, if not close to Morgan, some kind of confidant. They seemed to do most of the planning together. Tara drew out the lake and the surrounding area based on what she and her team had discovered on their short trip there.
They had reported that there didn’t seem to be any preparation going on, although traditional ceremonies weren’t gaudy, so the palace staff wouldn’t need much time to prepare.
They won’t find anything, I promised myself as I stood, shucking off my t-shirt and digging in my bag to find a spandex shirt with holes in the cuff where I could hook my thumbs for security.
Gabriel would never hold the ceremony at the lake. Sure, he’d run those trails with his father, but if he really wanted a traditional ceremony, he’d hold it somewhere with meaning. And the place that held true meaning—
I couldn’t even bring myself to think it, scared that the Blue Pack would somehow read my mind.
But as I walked through the rooms, I reminded myself that it wasn’t just the Blue Pack with us anymore. A handful of members from the Dagger Pack had appeared the day before, and a few members of the Hickory Pack as well closer to evening.
I tried to hide my disgust as I walked through their groups. They stank of fear and submission, which wasn’t that surprising.
The Dagger Pack were known to be weak. They gave in easily, and in the past, our history books told us they’d been overthrown several times by whoever the Alpha was at the time.
They were always the first to give in, the first to cower, and now they’d be the first to choose sides with whoever they thought had a better chance of winning.
The Hickory Pack, on the other hand, should be ashamed of themselves.
I wondered if Princess Daniele knew a few members of her pack were here. She couldn’t. We hadn’t interacted much during the Hunt, but Sophia’s impression of Daniele had been a good one. She was strong, blunt, fair.
It would embarrass her pack if they found out rebels had splintered off to join Morgan in overthrowing the King.
I glanced at the two Blue Pack members who stood on either side of the doors that led to their princess’s room.
They grudgingly opened the doors for me, but their dislike was clear. Still, none of them trusted me. But the taunting had stopped a few days ago as Morgan began to ask for me more and more.
Today, she sat in a window seat, her legs crossed beneath her, smoking. For some reason, she didn’t have the window open and the smoke created a haze in the room. I tried not to wrinkle my nose at the smell.
She didn’t look at me when I entered but stared outside instead. I sat in a chair that had clearly been placed nearby specifically for that reason.
“Tell me about Sophia.”
I’d learned quickly that Morgan asked for what she wanted bluntly, didn’t accept excuses, and punished failure harshly.
She wouldn’t punish me because I hadn’t been outright defiant to her yet—and because if, after all of this was over, I returned to my pack with obvious injuries, it would only create further division.
Which she couldn’t have if she was going to try to make herself the Alpha.
I took a moment to sort through what I could and couldn’t tell her; what I should exaggerate. I needed to keep up the appearance of a jealous lover, and I was getting good at it, though it ate away at me every time Morgan asked me about Gabriel.
She wanted to know what he liked, how he acted, what kind of lover he was. I hated telling her anything intimate and turned red when I had to, which made her laugh.
But Sophia would be an easy enough topic.
“We grew up together,” I started.
Her gaze swung over to me as she waited for more. I cleared my throat.
“The Autumn Pack still follows many traditions, and to keep the peace, the Alphas have to be respectful of that. Although they don’t always believe or participate, they show up at certain moons to show their support. That’s how we met.”
“And her parents allowed you to be friends?”
The disgust in Morgan’s voice was barely contained; it was obvious how she felt about alphas and omegas interacting.
I nodded. “She has no siblings. And most of the servants at our palace are older, without children. So, her father and mother allowed me to keep her company.”
Morgan squinted, sucking on the cigarette, huffing out enough smoke to obscure her face entirely.
“And how did you become her personal maid?”
“She needed one. She asked her mother, and her mother approved. My mother—” the words caught in my throat. I didn’t want to tell Morgan anything about my family; I didn’t want to let her know they existed, in case she ever tried to use them against me.
“My mother is a seamstress and tailor. She makes clothing for the Alphas and many of the betas. Despite my low status, our Queen knew my family and trusted I would be a good fit.”
“Were you always such good friends?” Morgan asked casually, swinging her legs over the window seat. “In the Blue Pack, omegas and alphas aren’t allowed to be playmates. Because of the very obvious social division. You never felt... divided?”
I glanced up at her quickly, realizing that although I would play this game how she wanted to, there would also be some truth to my answers.
I’d never talked about any of this aloud before, not even to my own family, and now I was walking a thin line—telling an enemy intimate details about my life that could endanger the people in it.
“Of course I did. She’s a princess after all. And I’m just... an omega.”
As I said the words, they sank heavy in my chest. I frowned, realizing that this whole time—my whole life, and especially these last few months—there had been an undertow of feeling not good enough.
And Gabriel deserved better.
Which is why, I told myself, I walked away instead of fighting for him. Sophia was an alpha and would always get whatever she wanted. It didn’t matter that I wanted him, too.
Morgan was watching me closely.
“I watched the two of you during the first event. You’re clearly the better fighter.”
I shrugged. “My father taught me. And I sparred with my brother, and other pack mates. Omegas need to keep themselves occupied.”
I was trying not to over-do the ‘lower status’ card but it was obvious that Morgan lived by the hierarchy.
“So if, in four days,” she began, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, “I gave you the chance to fight her—to take her down—would you be able to do it?”
I nodded mechanically, knowing it was the answer she wanted.
It would seem weak of me now to say that I wouldn’t after weeks of letting Morgan think I was a jealous lover. Even omegas fought for mates when they wanted them bad enough.
Which made me wonder, briefly, why I’d never fought for John.
Because he wasn’t anything like Gabriel, a voice in my head said.
Would I actually fight Sophia for him if it looked like Morgan could pull this whole thing off? Would he still be alive at the end of it?
Maybe I’d be able to get to him first, get him to escape with me—
Even as the fantasy played out quickly in my mind, I knew it would never work. I would never hurt Sophia—she didn’t even know she’d taken anything from me—and Morgan would never let Gabriel walk out of the Kingdom freely.
But she seemed satisfied enough with my answer, turning back to the window and leaving me in silence to walk back into the pit of enemies.