48: Lady Elizabeth Jane's POV

It was surprisingly easy to convince Darius that sharing a room would be more convincing for Alpha Bryant. We finally had a common goal-- ensuring that neither of us were caught in the lie about celebrating our engagement. All it took was a few subtle looks and a whispered conversation over dinner to persuade him that him leaving the room made up for us would be a red flag to everyone here. From there, I simply did what I'm good at. I got him into bed with me. And even better? He betrayed his sweet, innocent little Ada, all while sober. He'd made his own decisions and he would have to live with that.

Well, actually we both would. I wasn't able to calm him down shortly after our union, and he'd stormed off and shifted while in the packhouse. The sex with him was good, maybe even better than I had expected. I'd been hoping to spend some time with him after. Admittedly, I hadn't been expecting to convince him to lay with me so quickly. It had thrown me off-kilter just enough to make me slow to react when his screamed in agony shortly after. That witch, Ada, had clearly mindlinked him something that had ruined any progress I'd made. At least I could still report back to Uncle Everett that fucking had been a sucess. A *great* success.

My body was still tingling from where his hands had roamed on my body, my pussy still slick with his cum. Like most men, he'd been solely focused on his own release. I was left naked and alone, the quiet thrum of pleasure not quite fulfilled. I'd dismissed the maids when they came to investigate what had happened that led Darius to acting so foolish. Thankfully, I was quick on my feet and left them with the juciest bit of gossip I could muster on a whim-- we were having a lovers spat. A well placed eye roll helped sell it. They'd nodded in understanding and booked it out of the room.

The birds were chirping loudly outside the bedroom window. Stories had been whispered through the halls of Oberon Castle while I was growing up about this place. People said the birds were spies for the Alpha of the Midnight Pack and that the dirt itself was poison. I'd always chalked it up to aristocratic nonsense-- high and mighty wolves who thought they were (and actually are) above those of this pack. But being here... for as much as I despised Ada, and needed to knock her on her ass to achieve what *I* want... there was something wrong with this place. For all I knew, the birds were *actually* spies. Though, Alpha Bryant definitely didn't seem inherently evil. Despite his lies.

His daughter, Georgina, had yet to make the appearance that he'd stated she would. His wife and Luna, Francine, was also suspicsiously missing. While the Princes had seemed to work diligently to ensure I was out of the loop about what was potentially going on here, I had my connections that ensured I knew the basics. Potential treason, betrayal, blah, blah, blah. Part of me was happy to tag along for the chance to spend time with my future husband and see the farthest pack lands of the kingdom, another part of me was still trying to figure out how to turn this all against Ada fully. Laying with Darius had dulled my inherent qualms with the royal surrogate, but had done nothing to disuade me ruining her in the long run.

Quick thinking had gotten me this far. Well, quick thinking and my ability to read situations. The longer I spent in this packhouse and the more I was around the wolves here, the more I began to understand that *this* would not be where I could take Ada down. I'd spent a vast majority of my life working in the background to tear my enemies down, all in the name of my own future. Working against the princes initiative to prevent whatever it was that was going down in the midnight Pack would only lead to the Kingdom *I* was going to run laying in ruin.

So, for at least a short while, all of our goals aligned. Ada would be safe for the duration of time we spent here in the Midnight Pack. I would work to make Darius fall in love with me while they were separated, using our engagement as a way to keep him close. This would succeed. It had to.

I stood in front of the mirror, scrunching up my nose. Before we'd left Oberon Castle, I had my maids sneak into Ada's room and grab a few of her things. Looking at the pale blue gown, made from plain silk, I regretted my decisions. I had hoped stepping into some of her things would make me have the allure that seemed to draw Darius into her. But this was so plain, unattractive. What the hell *was it* about her? Three princes, drooling at her hells. Depserate for her affections. If it was any other trio of males, I would have rolled my eyes and puked a little bit at the patheticness of it.

But they were the three Alpha Princes of the Kingdom of the Moonglade. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was witchcraft that Ada was using against them. *Witchcraft.* Uncle Everett was just unstable enough to resort back to old precendence if there were indications his sons would be harmed. When we returned to Oberon Castle, I could plant those seeds. Mental manipulation of his sons would only leave one option for Uncle Everett: execution.

A slow smile spread across my lips. Now that just might work.