Chapter 55

Chapter 55

When I left for work the next day, I saw no sign of Jeffrey. However, I was sure that he had to be around somewhere. I had the feeling that someone was following me all the way to Ever After Weddings, but I convinced myself that it was only Jeffrey and tried to not let it bother me.

As I pulled into the bridal shop’s parking lot, I was surrounded by reporters and people with cameras. The flashes blinded me as I stepped out of my car.

“Crystal Blanchard! Crystal Blanchard!” multiple voices called out to me at once.

“Crystal Blanchard, is it true that you are dating Alpha King Andrew Dubois?” a female reporter asked me, shoving her recorder in my face.

“What?” I asked, trying to cover my eyes from the camera flashes.

“Crystal Blanchard, how long have you been courting the Alpha King?” a male reporter said next as he pushed his way to the

front of the crowd.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about-

“Are you worried that what happened to the other Lunas will happen to you?”

“I really don’t know why you’re asking-

“Is it awkward that you’re planning the Princess’s wedding while also dating her father?”

“No, nothing is awkward because-

“Do you think that the fact that you are a hybrid will negatively impact Andrew Dubois’s political future?”

“Let’s leave my blood status out of this-

“Are there any babies in the Blanchard-Dubois future?”

The world started to spin around me. I couldn’t see straight. The voices of the papara zzi rang in my ears, and the flashes of the cameras blurred in my eyes.

I wasn’t sure how much more of this I could handle. I backed up until I hit my car, and I fumbled for my keys. had to get away from these people, somehow.

“Kill them all!” Susan roared.

My nails began to grow, and I could feel my fangs elongate. My vision and hearing sharpened, making the catastrophe surrounding me that much more unbearable. I growled from deep inside my chest, trying to control my self-defense mechanism.

“Back!” I heard a booming man’s voice call. “Back, I say!”

I lifted my eyes and scarcely made out the figure of Jeffrey among the lights. He reached through the sea of papara zzi and grabbed me by the arm, pulling me forward. He wrapped his arm around me and led me through the crowd.

The reporters still tried to shout questions at me, and the photographers still tried to shoot their photos, but Jeffrey kept me covered with his b*dy.

“By order of the Alpha King, stay back!” he yelled.

Jeffrey had to elbow and shove some of the more persistent papara zzi, but we eventually reached the door to the bridal shop. and escaped them entirely.

I collapsed into a nearby chair as Jeffrey walked the perimeter, presumably securing it. My nails and fangs retracted, and my eyesight and hearing returned to normal Terri, who stood behind the counter, alternated watching Jeffrey and watching me before she spoke.

your..guard

“Well, good morning to you too, Crystal,” she said. “I can see that you brought your guard again.”

I nodded.

“I can’t really shake him.”

“Now I see why”

She motioned out the windows to the papara zzi, who had gathered around the storefront to try and get a shot of me inside the shop.

I covered my face with my hands, groaning.

“Why is this happening?” I asked into my hands. “None of their questions were making sense. They were acting like I’m dating Andrew…”

“That’s probably because everyone thinks you’re dating Andrew.”

My head shot up to stare at Terri

“What? Why would they think that?

Terri looked at me like I had just said the dumbest thing she had ever heard.

“Haven’t you read the morning tabloids!”

“No. Why would I do that?”

“Come here, and I’ll show you.”

I walked to Terri, who offered her phone to me. On the screen was a tabloid article with a picture of me hugging Andrew in the hallway outside my apartment. The headline read:

ALPHA KING ANDREW DUBOIS FINDS NEW CANDIDATE FOR LUNA IN WEDDING PLANNER CRYSTAL

BLANCHARD

My jaw dropped open. How could the tabloid have even gotten this picture? Andrew and I were completely alone-

Then I remembered my neighbor, the supposed “Alpha King fan” who had spied on us with his phone out just before Andrew called him out. The man must have gotten a picture of us hugging and sold it to the highest bidder. That tabloid then put whatever story they saw fit to the picture, which just happened to be that Andrew was courting me to be his new

Luna

“None of this is true,” aid as I handed Terri back her phone.

“What’s the picture about, then?” Terri asked, looking at me out of the corner of her eye.

“We went to dinner to talk about the wedding plans. I got sick, and Andrew took me home. I gave him a hug to thank him for dinner and for taking me home, but that’s it.”

“Minhmm.”

“What do you mean, ‘mmhmm?”

“Tjust mean that you two seem awfully comfortable with each other whenever he’s in here. That’s all.”

“How would you know? He’s normally here after hours.”

“That’s another thing, he normally comes when only you will be here. Doesn’t that seem suspicious?”

I rubbed my temples, trying to stave off the headache that had been threatening to come on since the papara zzi bombarded

“It’s nothing, Terri, really. He has a busy schedule, that’s all. We just work to accommodate that.”

“Let me ask you this: where did you get the money for a b*dyguard? I know that even with that raise that Lily gave you with your promotion that there’s no way that you could afford a b*dyguard, especially one of that caliber, on your own.”

I swallowed against the knot forming in my throat. I didn’t have a good answer for that, I didn’t even have a good lie to that up

“Andrew had something to do with it, didn’t he? He hired him or gave you one of his own guards, huh?”

I cringed. What could I say? Lying seemed pointless now, but the truth made the tabloid story seem truer than it actually

“Well?”

“Yes, Andrew gave me one of his guards,” I finally relented, “but it’s not because we’re dating. Someone has been stalking me and threatening to attack me. I confided in Andrew, and he got worried, so he insisted that I have a guard on me.”

Terri’s eyes flew wide open.

“You’re being stalked? What happened?”

“Glass in my lunch, and I was drugged,” I said, not wanting to elaborate any further than that

Terri let out a low whistle.

“Sh it. That’s heavy. But it also proves that even if the tabloid doesn’t have its facts straight, it might be more on point than even its reporters know.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, indignant.

“And how exactly do you figure that?”

“Look at the lengths that Andrew went to in order to ensure your safety. If that doesn’t prove that he cares about your, I don’t know what would.”

I gaped at her, unable to respond.

“And my bet is that you care about him, too.”

Heat rushed through my face and n*eck.

“…well…I…”

Terri laughed and patted me on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

Her face suddenly turned serious.

“Just be careful, okay? If you thought that you needed a guard before, you will definitely need one now. I can’t imagine what people will do now that they think that Andrew wants you to be his next Luna.”

“..Just get to work.”

Terri shrugged and started pulling out folders for us to work on that day.

SEND GIFT

“Don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”

As I watched her. I couldn’t help but think on her words. If I thought that Bob and Lisa were a threat to me before, I couldn’t imagine what they-or someone else-might do now that the papara zzi had put out the idea that Andrew might make me

his next Luna.

Andrew will protect me, I told myself, not totally convinced