#Chapter 24 Bad Press

Olivia’s POV

Normally, I wouldn’t care so much about this silly gossip column, but it wounds me where I felt hurt in the same way in the past. I was a substitute mate, useless and frivolous, and even at times called a whore as though needing attention from my mate was unreasonable to Alicia. It makes me sick to recall those pains, and I feel them now reading through the news.

I feel my hands shiver on the edge of my laptop, my wolf barking for me to get back to work, but I feel deflated by these rumors. If the Queen Luna were to be pregnant, which I am most definitely not, then it would technically be my second pregnancy. The hurt of losing the first one nags at me without relent.

“My dear, what’s wrong?” Gabriel asks, standing in the doorway to the library now, his legs crossed at the ankles and his hands stuffed into his front pockets. He looks accentuating lean in this stance, almost hitting his head on the doorway. “You were growling.”

“Oh, I didn’t know I was,” I breathe, shaking