Chapter 18

Ella POV

I stared at David's phone in what must have looked like shock, but really, I was trying to decide how to react.

In the original timeline, this news had gotten out too, but it wasn't until after the wedding. The fact that it got out early this time meant that David must have been the one who leaked it.

Was this his attempt to get back at me for embarrassing him at the restaurant? That made the most sense. He was trying to manipulate me by embarrassing me publicly.

It was just the same as before.

The first time around, I felt so insecure when the news about my dormant wolf got out. I was worried that David would leave me due to the gossip and the fact that it would be seen as a weakness to some of our enemies.

Shortly afterward, my father had gotten sick. I had already been so upset that I couldn’t function. When I found out how serious my father’s health condition was, I ended up allowing David to take control of the pack because I wasn't able to.

That was how everything had started to fall apart. Once he had taken over the alpha duties, he wouldn’t give them up. He convinced me that it was for the best, and because I loved him so much, I believed him.

What did he hope to gain this time around? He must have wanted me to be scared and to feel weak so that I would depend on him. But that wasn't going to happen. Not again.

"That's not even true," I said, glaring at the headline on his phone. “I have my wolf; she’s only dormant.”

"I'm sorry," David replied with a sad look on his face. "I don't know how they found out. Someone must have been gossiping."

"There's a very narrow list of people who know," I pointed out. "I can't believe that one of them would betray me."

A look of concern crossed his face. He must have realized that he was one of the only people who knew my secret.

Over his shoulder, I could see people approaching, and I gritted my teeth in frustration. The banquet was full of reporters, and they knew we were here, which meant they would want a statement.

I wouldn’t be able to avoid them, and if I left after making such a big entrance, it would look strange.

Within seconds, three different reporters were standing around us, all of them filming and holding microphones out. I took a step back, feeling startled by their boldness.

"Miss Rowan, a statement?" one of them asked.

"Is it true that you were born without a wolf?" another asked.

"Are you worried that your wolflessness will put your pack at risk?" the third asked.

I never expected such blunt questions. Maybe it was because of my status as the only child of an alpha, but people never spoke so rudely to me.

David stepped in front of me. "Enough," he said. "How dare you act so rudely toward my fiancée?"

I wanted to roll my eyes. Did he set this up just so he could pretend to defend me? But that couldn't be it, because I wasn't supposed to be here—he had intentionally not told me about the banquet.

That must have been the reason—he must have wanted to make a statement before I had a chance so that he could control the narrative.

David turned toward me and gripped both of my arms firmly. He looked into my eyes and smiled. "This changes nothing about how I feel," he said. "It changes nothing about our engagement."

People all around had stopped and turned to stare at us. Not only were the reporters recording and streaming everything we said, but we had a live audience. I didn't want to be seen arguing with him in front of all these people.

Then David turned and looked directly into one of the cameras.

"It's true that Ella is wolfless due to an illness that she has struggled with for years now, but that changes nothing. I would never leave her over something like this. I will remain loyal to Ella and her pack no matter what, and I intend to stand by her side and help her through it. Despite her wolfless status, I’m confident that she will be an amazing Luna someday."

It was clear to me that he had practiced this speech, so this really was his plan all along. I felt completely blindsided, and I was struggling to think of what to say to defend myself without looking like I was being emotional.

"If you really loved her, you wouldn’t use the term ‘wolfless.’”

I turned toward the voice and found Alexander approaching with a fiery look in his eyes.

"It’s an inherently offensive term, and it’s not accurate. Her wolf is merely dormant due to illness, as you should all well know since she is the daughter of a prominent Alpha and her first shift was well celebrated. Having a dormant wolf due to illness is temporary, even if it lasts for years, and it is something that Ella will no doubt recover from. It is in no way a defect."

I felt my heartbeat flutter as I listened to Alexander’s defense of me. He was right, but more importantly, he was making David seem like a jerk.

"He’s right," I said, turning back toward the cameras. "My wolf is with me still; she’s only dormant, and I’m following the advice of my doctor to recover from this illness and bring my wolf back to full strength. It’s only a matter of time before it happens. I am not wolfless, and I am perfectly capable of fulfilling my duties to my pack."

The crowd around us applauded, which caught me off guard and made me blush with embarrassment. Alexander was still standing close behind me, which helped me feel a little more confident as I turned toward David.

"You've known about this for years," I pointed out. "So if you had a problem with it, I really hope you wouldn't have proposed to me anyway."

This got a loud reaction from the crowd as I heard people murmuring to themselves about David's pompous behavior.

Amanda had approached in the crowd, and I could see her frowning deeply; her unhappy expression mirrored David's.

Third Person POV

David left early from the banquet. He was so humiliated by Alexander's speech and the crowd's reaction to him that he couldn't bear to stay. He and Amanda had met outside and headed back to his home.

During the drive, he watched his phone as people reacted to the news, not only of Ella's illness but also of Alexander's eloquent defense of her and his own unkind words.

He glared at the screen. He had practiced that speech and chosen the words carefully. He never expected using the word "wolfless" to cause a backlash against him.

When had people gotten so sensitive about word choices? There was no real difference between being wolfless and having a dormant wolf—either way, it meant that Ella couldn't shift and she was weak because of it.

The whole point of tonight was to take Ella down a peg and damage her newfound self-confidence, but thanks to Alexander stealing the spotlight and making David look like a fool, that hadn't happened.

David's hatred of Alexander was growing by the day. It would make it all the more satisfying to defeat him in the race for Alpha King.

Amanda remained quiet during the drive, uncertain of what to say. David had a tendency to lash out when he was angry, and she didn't want that anger to be aimed at her.

Suddenly, David's phone began to ring. It was a call from Ella.

He answered it immediately. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," Ella replied. "You left so quickly that I was worried you might be upset. I just wanted to check on you."

"I'm fine," he said. "I'm just not very good at speaking to reporters like that, and I didn't want to say something wrong again and have it taken out of context."

"I see," Ella said with a bored tone to her voice. "Well, as long as you're all right, I won't take up any more of your time."

The call ended, and David threw his phone on the ground. When had Ella gotten so cold? She didn’t care that he had left at all! She hadn’t even come after him.

"It's okay," Amanda said, reaching out to touch his arm lightly.

"How is it okay?" he demanded, whirling around to glare at her.

The sudden movement startled Amanda, but she recovered quickly and smiled at David. "I already have a backup plan ready to go," she said.