Chapter 214

Andrew held his phone to his ear, running his hair through his hand.

“King Frederick, Your Highness, I don’t think that this is an appropriate time to talk about this,” he said.

“Why not?” King Frederick replied, his voice practically booming across the line. “I saw the picture. Aurora is smitten by you.”

“And she is a very sweet young woman—”

“I think that the two of you would make a perfect pair. At least give it some consideration.”

Andrew had to suppress a sigh of frustration.

“I simply cannot,” he said. “You know that I’m with Crystal.”

“That’s not a permanent arrangement.”

His grip on the phone tightened to the point of his knuckles turning white. He could not let King Frederick get under his skin.

“We will talk about this later, Your Highness,” he said through gritted teeth. “I have an important meeting to get to.”

“Of course, Alpha King Andrew,” King Frederick said. “Just keep my proposal in mind.”

“Very well, King Frederick. Have a good day.”

“You as well, Your Highness.”

Andrew hung up his phone and growled. He cursed the reporter who had taken that picture, and he cursed the news outlets in both the werewolf and human worlds that had printed the article about them. He couldn’t get King Frederick to stop talking about a possible marriage between him and Princess Aurora.

He rubbed his hand over his forehead. He had no idea how he was going to explain this to Crystal. And now, the Werewolf Council and his advisors wanted to hold yet another joint meeting.

Andrew sighed and entered the conference room. Better to get this over with.

The entire Werewolf Council and all his advisors stood up at they waited for Andrew to take his seat at the head of the table.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said. “I had some personal matters to deal with.”

“I am sure that you did,” Head Wolf Antoine remarked.

Andrew glared at Head Wolf Antoine momentarily, then returned his attention to the entire gathering.

“So, why have you asked me here?” he said.

His media advisor, Dennis, glanced at Head Wolf Antoine, who nodded. Dennis cleared his throat and grabbed his laptop from near the projector.

“We are here to discuss this article that has been making the rounds in both the werewolf and human media today.”

The lights went down, and a projector screen lowered at the end of the table opposite Andrew. An image appeared on the screen of a news article with a picture of Andrew carrying Aurora princess style out of Howler Park to his gold Aston Martin. Above the picture read the headline:

ALPHA KING ANDREW SWEEPS PRINCESS AURORA OFF HER FEET

The article went on to speculate whether Andrew had a new flame and if that meant that he was cheating on Crystal or that their relationship was already over.

“Someone caught you in a compromising position with the princess of the human world,” Dennis began. “While a union between the Alpha King and Princess Aurora could be seen as favorable, it does not help us that people are unclear of where you stand with Crystal. As you can guess, speculation about you cheating on Crystal with another woman is not painting a good image of you.”

Andrew narrowed his eyes at the image on the projector. His hands curled into fists. He knew where this was going, and he did not like it one bit.

“Then I will make it clear to the world that I am in love with Crystal and that Princess Aurora is only a friend,” he said, his jaw clenched.

Dennis exchanged glances with Andrew’s top advisor—Michael—and Head Wolf Antoine.

“Actually, we have a different plan in mind,” Head Wolf Antoine said.

“You need to break up with Crystal,” Michael continued.

Andrew slammed his hands on the table and stood up, knocking his chair over in the process.

“I have already told you too many times, I am not breaking up with Crystal!” he roared.

Head Wolf Antoine stood as well, holding himself as tall as he could.

“Think about your position,” he said. “Your people need to see their leader as virtuous and willing to do what is right. Give them what they need!”

“I always give my people what they need! Right now, what they need is for me to be happy, and I am happy with Crystal!”

Andrew glared down Head Wolf Antoine until the other werewolf reluctantly bowed his head and sat back down.

“And if any of you have a problem with that,” Andrew continued, “you can deal with me directly.”

No one dared to speak up.

“Good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have better things to do with my day than waste my time on worthless meetings.”

Andrew stormed out of the room without waiting for a response. He could only hope that that would keep them off his back, at least long enough for him to think of something to say to Crystal.

I curled up in my bed, my phone barely within my grasp. On the screen was an article with a picture of Andrew shirtless carrying Princess Aurora to his car, her head snuggled against his shoulder. The headline read:

SHIRTLESS ALPHA KING CARRIES SMITTEN PRINCESS TO HIS GOLDEN CHARIOT

My hand trembled as I tried to keep hold of my phone. Tears streaked down my cheeks. My chest heaved in uncontrollable sobs.

As the day went by, my phone blew up with texts from various friends.

Terri’s came first thing in the morning.

R u ok? I saw the pic. Do u want 2 talk?

Lily’s popped up next, not a few minutes later.

I can’t believe that scumbag! I can come over if u need me.

Eliza’s text soon followed.

Sweetheart, don’t let this get you down. Andrew still loves you. It’s all just a misunderstanding.

Noah’s text came last, several hours later. It simply said, I’m here for you.

I didn’t answer any of them. What would be the point? They would all just say the same thing, either that it was a misunderstanding or that he didn’t deserve me anyway, neither of which would make me feel any better.

By 3 o’clock, I hadn’t eaten anything. My stomach growled in protest, but I didn’t care. All I wanted was to lie down, alone, in my bed and not think about Andrew and his new princess.

Then I heard a knock on my bedroom door.

It could only be one person: Jeffrey. He had insisted on doing his rounds inside after seeing the picture of Andrew and Princess Aurora, but he had not bothered me since.Not even to make me eat.

I dragged myself out of bed and to the door. When I opened it, I was met by Jeffrey’s solemn face.

“Are you going to come out today?” he asked.

I shook my head, sniffling.

“You should go talk to him,” he continued.

I shook my head again. My eyes watered once more, and my lower lip shook.

“You know that it was probably a misunderstanding—”

“How? How do I know that?” I yelled. “It didn’t look like much of a misunderstanding when I caught them inches away from each other while having a picnic at the park!”

Jeffrey’s brow twitched, but he did not otherwise react to my outburst physically.

“II don’t know what you saw, but I do know that Andrew loves you—”

“And what about this Princess Aurora? How does he feel about her?”

I waited for Jeffrey to respond, but he didn’t.

“See? You don’t know. You didn’t see what I saw.”

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. My nose dripped with snot, but I didn’t care. I would ugly-cry for the rest of my life if it only meant that Andrew wasn’t falling for another woman.

“Just…leave me alone.”

I grabbed the door to my bedroom and slammed it as hard as I could manage. When Jeffrey did not try to knock again, I trudged back to my bed, feeling slightly guilty for what I had done but mostly just wallowing in my pain and despair.

As I collapsed face-first on my bed, my phone started to buzz. I initially brushed it off as more texts. People just did not know when to leave well enough alone.

Then the buzzing kept going. And going. And going.

With a sigh, I reached for my phone and looked at the caller ID. My eyes widened at the name.

Andrew.