Chapter 4

ELIZABETH’S POV

As soon as I hear that accursed voice again, I freeze.

In my stunned state, any thought of evading Alexander or running away slips from my mind. The mere memory of his body inches from mine, full of threat and of promise, makes my pulse erratic.

Is he… is he here to try to expose me in front of the whole party?

“Alexander Ashford…” Bianca murmurs, unable to hide her awe upon seeing the handsome Alpha. “What are you doing over here, with us—?”

“Enough.”

His commanding voice cracks through the air like a whip. In no time, the energy among us completely shifts.

Reluctantly, I turn to face the impeccably-dressed Alpha, fully expecting that he’s preparing to shove me into the spotlight.

However, Alexander’s glare rests not on me, for once, but on everyone else in the circle. His blue eyes are alight with a burning intensity, pupils narrowed into slits. I feel the force of his Alpha Aura envelop the room.

“What do you think you’re doing, talking about the Princess so casually?” He demands, receiving nothing but mortified silence. “If you all truly care about enjoying the rest of your time here, keep her name out of your mouths. Now, scatter.”

The crowd ripples with a sharp flinch, and quickly disperse to different corners of the party.

The only one who remains is Bianca.

“Alexander,” she scolds lightly, “you can’t just place the blame on us.” She points her delicate, manicured finger at me. “She’s the one who made those ridiculous insinuations about Princess—”

“Save it,” he snaps, stunning Bianca into silence. “I’m well aware you’re the one who led this little gossip circle.” He towers over her. “Your father may be one of Shadowfang’s Beta deputies, but his rank is inconsequential to us. If you do this again, both of you will regret it. Am I clear?”

Her face reddens, and she nods. Before leaving, she sneaks one last dirty glare at me.

The thought crosses my mind to take advantage of this and make my own escape. I’m barely able to turn away, before his focus lands on me once again.

“And you—” he mutters dangerously. “I’m nowhere near done with you.”

“What more do you want from me?”

Without saying another word, he grabs onto my elbow and pulls me out of the common room.

As he leads me into an adjoining reception hall, I see the worried gaze of Linda, watching Alexander drag me away.

Kai and Ronan follow closely behind after seeing us, curious and suspicious.

Once we’re all alone, Alexander quietly shuts the doors.

He turns his head with annoyed disapproval. “Your little attempt to explain the ‘Princess’ nickname was grossly insufficient.”

“Fill me in. What’s this about a ‘Princess’ nickname?” Kai asks teasingly, crossing his arms as he gazes at me. “Another secret you didn’t want us to discover?”

“I explained it perfectly fine,” I glare between the triplets. “It’s just a nickname. Given to me by my cousin when we were young. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“That’s not my only issue here. There’s something else I’m curious about,” Alexander says, his blue eyes dragging up and down my figure. “Tell me how it is that an Omega like you knows about the Princess’s lover.”

Good question. But it didn’t faze me.

“A few of my relatives work at the palace,” I say, the lie slipping as smoothly as butter from my lips. “You’d be surprised if you could learn all of the juicy palace gossip that I’ve heard through the grapevine.”

Behind me, I hear a snort come from Ronan.

Alexander huffs a short. “You have an excuse lined up for everything, don’t you?”

I manage to give a small shrug in response. “It’s not an excuse if it’s true.”

Which it isn’t… but none of them needs to know that.

“The thing about Omegas,” Kai says, stepping closer to me, “is that their scent is among the most distinct of all werewolf scents. One sniff, and everyone would know exactly what you are. But I… can’t smell you, for some reason.”

Good. That means my masking perfume works like a charm.

“Nothing can help you smell my wolf,” I answer, forcing myself to appear a little downcast. “I was born without one.”

"Really?"

Before I can process what happens next, Alexander wraps his hand around my wrist, pulling me close. Suddenly, I find myself once again mere inches away from his large, intimidating frame as he towers over me.

“What are you—?”

The words immediately die in my throat when he leans even closer, his face angling towards my neck, and sniffs.

I gasp, but any attempt to break away fails. It’s like my body refuses to respond to even the simplest of commands anymore, because everything about him floods my senses. His deep, focused breaths brush against my skin, hot and sensual and unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.

This close, his scent washes over me, drowning me in a sea of cinnamon and pine needles.

It’s surprisingly intoxicating… and even worse, it makes my wolf Liora restless.

No! Calm down! I shout in mind.

Otherwise, he’ll find out who we—

RING ~ RING ~ RING ~

The sound of a nearby phone ringing is enough to rouse us awake.

Ronan lifts the phone to his ear. “Go,” he commands, getting straight to the point.

As he listens to the person on the other end of the line, his brothers wait eagerly on the sidelines, and I remain stuck here, trapped within Alexander’s powerful hold, utterly puzzled with Liora’s reaction.

What in the world was that?

“Understood,” Ronan says, and ends the call without another word.

“Was that Erik?” Kai takes a curious step forward and asks. I can only assume he’s referring to a Beta in their service.

“It was,” Ronan mutters, slipping his phone into his jacket pocket. “Let’s not narrow our sights on this wolfless Omega just yet. The other freshman who is suspected to be the Princess appears to have finally arrived.”

“Beth Miller,” Alexander says, immediately dropping my arm from his grasp. “Where is she?”

Ronan tidies his button-up shirt. “In the front gardens.”

“Alright. We need to find her—now.”

With that, they take off without so much as another word to me.

I blink. Beth Miller?

It’s not a name I’m familiar with, and no face comes to mind when I try to picture who this mysterious newcomer might be. And yet, the triplets have her marked so high on their list while they search for the Princess.

Who is Beth Miller? And why do they seem so confident that she might be me?