Chapter 117
[Amelia's POV]
The champagne was still dripping from my hair when Chloe's voice cut through the shocked silence like a blade.
"Everyone needs to see what this Omega really is," she announced, her voice carrying across the suddenly quiet hall. Her brown eyes glittered with malicious satisfaction as she held up her phone, fingers swiping across the screen. "Look at these pictures. Look how she seduced my husband."
My blood turned to ice as she turned the phone toward the crowd gathering around us. The photos showed Lucas and me in the castle. Damning.
"That's not—" I started, but Chloe's voice rose over mine.
"She knew he was married. She knew he belonged to another Pack. But did that stop her?" Chloe's red hair caught the chandeliers' light as she shook her head dramatically. "Omegas can't help themselves. It's in their nature to seduce and destroy."
I wiped champagne from my face with the back of my hand, my silver dress now stained and clinging uncomfortably to my skin. "You're lying. Everyone here knows—"
"Knows what?" Chloe stepped closer, and I caught the sharp scent of her distress—but underneath it, something else. Something calculated. "That you used your Omega pheromones to manipulate him? That you deliberately led him away from the group to that isolated set?"
Around us, the Pack members were backing away. Harper took a step back, her eyes darting between Chloe and me like she was watching a dangerous animal. Other Silver Moon wolves did the same, creating a widening circle of space. Only Noah remained close, his presence steady behind me.
The whispers started then. Low, judgmental murmurs that made my skin crawl.
"Always knew Omegas were trouble..."
"Can't trust them around mated wolves..."
Each word hit like a physical blow. My chest tightened, and I struggled to breathe evenly. This was exactly what Mom had warned me about—how quickly a Pack could turn against an Omega when things went wrong.
Chloe sensed the shift in the crowd's mood and pressed her advantage. Her voice broke as she began to speak again, tears welling in her brown eyes.
"I came all the way from Gray Ear Pack to support my husband's work," she said, her voice trembling with what looked like genuine pain. "I left my family, my friends, everything I knew because I believed in us. I trusted him."
The tears started falling then, perfect crystalline drops that caught the light. Her red hair framed her face like a fiery halo as she pressed a hand to her heart.
"Lucas and I have been together since we were teenagers. We built our life together, planned our future. I thought..." She choked on a sob. "I thought our bond was unbreakable."
Even I was almost buying it, and I knew the truth. The way she modulated her voice, the careful timing of each tear—this wasn't grief. This was performance art.
"But then she came along," Chloe continued, pointing an accusing finger at me. "With her silver hair and her Omega scent, deliberately targeting him. Using her natural advantages to seduce him away from his mate."
The crowd was eating it up. I could see it in their faces—the way they looked at me now. Like I was some kind of predator instead of the victim of Lucas's unwanted attention.
"That's enough," I said, my voice shaking with rage. "You don't know what you're talking about. Your husband—"
"Is weak around Omegas, yes." Chloe's tears stopped as suddenly as they'd started, her expression hardening. "But that doesn't excuse what you did. An honorable Omega would have removed herself from the situation. Would have respected Pack boundaries."
The fury building in my chest was making it hard to think straight. Ashley was pacing now, feeding off my anger, and I could feel my scent starting to spike despite the masking perfume.
"You want to talk about honor?" I stepped forward, my voice carrying clearly across the hall. "Your husband wouldn't take no for an answer. He followed me, cornered me, made me uncomfortable every day. And when I told him to back off, he—"
"Lies!" Chloe shrieked, her performance mask slipping completely. "You're just making excuses because you got caught!"
That did it.
My hand moved before my brain could stop it. The slap echoed through the entire hall like a gunshot, sharp and final. Chloe's head snapped to the side, her perfect makeup smearing slightly from the impact.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Oh, shit. Oh, shit, oh, shit...
Chloe slowly turned back to face me, her hand pressed to her reddening cheek. When she looked up, her eyes were wide with shock—but underneath, I caught a flash of triumph.
And then the waterworks started again, twice as intense as before.
"She hit me," Chloe whispered, her voice broken and small. "She actually hit me. All I did was try to protect my marriage, and she..."
She crumpled slightly, letting out a sob that sounded genuinely wounded. A few of the Beta women in the crowd made sympathetic noises, their protective instincts kicking in.
Jesus Christ, she's turning me into the villain here.
"I just wanted my husband back," Chloe continued through her tears. "I just wanted to understand why he changed, why he stopped coming home, why he looked at me like I was a stranger. And now..."
She gestured helplessly at her red cheek, and I realized with growing horror that she'd played this perfectly. Made me look like the aggressive one, the dangerous Omega who couldn't control herself.
"That's quite enough drama for one evening."
The voice was deep, authoritative, and completely unfamiliar. The crowd parted as a massive figure approached—a man who had to be six-foot-five at least, with shoulders that looked like they could support a building. His dark hair was streaked with gray, and his eyes held the cold intelligence of a predator.
"James Wells," he introduced himself, his gaze sweeping the gathered crowd before settling on me. "Alpha of Gray Ear Pack."
My blood turned to ice water. Chloe's Alpha. This just went from bad to catastrophic.
"I came here tonight as a gesture of goodwill between our Packs," James continued, his voice carrying the kind of authority that made every wolf in the vicinity stand a little straighter. "But it seems one of your... members... has been causing problems for my Pack members."
His eyes fixed on me, and I felt the full weight of his Alpha presence pressing down like a physical force.
"This matter will need to be addressed formally," James said, his tone making it clear this wasn't a request. "Gray Ear Pack demands satisfaction for the insult to our member."
The crowd was getting thicker now, more people drawn by the commotion. I caught sight of some faces I recognized—senior Pack members, important Betas, people whose opinions actually mattered. All of them watching this unfold like it was entertainment.
"I'll be speaking with your Alpha about this incident," James continued, his voice carrying clearly across the hall. "This kind of behavior between Pack allies is unacceptable."
He paused, letting the weight of his words settle over the crowd. When he spoke again, his voice was quieter but somehow more menacing.
"Someone needs to teach your Omega some manners."
The threat hung in the air like smoke, and I felt Noah tense behind me. Around us, the Silver Moon Pack members looked uncomfortable, caught between loyalty to their own and the political reality of offending a powerful ally.
That's when I heard it—a low, dangerous sound that made every wolf in the vicinity freeze.
A growl. Deep, primal, and absolutely lethal.
"Is someone making threats in my territory?"