Mating the Female Alpha
Chapter 71 – The truth is out.

Bernice's POV

It felt like everybody was watching me as I came down the stairs of the palace and into the foyer. All the servants were whispering, and I knew gossip would soon surface around the kingdom. But my question was, what are they gossiping about?

"Oh, my goddess!" Jessie screamed as she ran through the foyer and toward me. "Have you seen the news?" She asked, grabbing my arm, and pulling me along with her and toward the living room.

"What's going on?" I asked, my nerves rising in my stomach.

"It's really bad..."

"Where's Landry?"

"I don't know. Probably dealing with it. At least, I hope he is..."

"You're starting to scare me," I say; I couldn't keep the worry from my tone.

We entered the living room, and the news was already playing on the television. There was a picture of me, as the Alpha, on the greenscreen with a newscaster standing in front of it.

"It seems the female Alpha is actually an Omega and has been deceiving the kingdom for years. This is an unforgivable act. How is the kingdom going to react to the news that they may be unsafe under the protection of the Alpha King who knew this the entire time..."

My heart sunk into my stomach at the words of the newscaster.

How had word gotten out about this? I stared over at Jessie who was watching the TV with tears in her eyes; she looked just as nervous as I felt.

"How did this happen?" I demanded to know.

I saw some side-eyes from some of the servants who pretend to be cleaning, but they were also watching the news. Now the gossip was starting to make sense. They all knew the truth.

"I knew it the entire time," one of the servants whispered to the other. "I always said she looks just like her."

"I always assumed the Alpha was keeping her prisoner. It seems he had us all tricked."

"I can't believe we've all been deceived. I actually felt sorry for her."

"Don't you ladies have something better to do than gossip?" Jessie snapped, causing them to jump at her words. "Leave us, this instant."

"Sorry, your highness," they all said in unison with bows before leaving the living room.

Jessie turned to me with tears in her eyes.

"I swear, Bernice. I didn't say anything. I don't know how word had gotten out about this... I'm so sorry."

I didn't blame Jessie; I knew she wouldn't have done anything like this. I just wasn't sure who did it and what their motive would be. Tina was gone; so, she was ruled out.

I turned back to the news in time to hear her say, "Let's play the audio clip one last time."

Audio clip?

"You were careless. You shouldn't have gone there. I've told you countless times about the costs. I did it for my pack... I turned myself into an Alpha with the medication so I can protect my pack and fight alongside you. I did it to prepare my brother to become the next Alpha of Sunset Pack. Because of that, I'm going to die at 25. It would break his heart if he knew the truth, Landry. He can't know the truth. You were careless."

"Bernice..."

The television turned off; I was dumbfounded. I couldn't stop staring at the TV; my entire body felt frozen. I couldn't feel my limps and my heart had sunk into the depths of my stomach. I felt a wave of nausea overcome me. "Landry..." Jessie breathed from beside me.

It was Landry that had turned the TV off; he was standing before us with a serious expression.

"Your room was bugged," he told me.

"Bugged?" Both Jessie and I said at the same time.

"I have men going around the palace and finding any more bugs. But someone has been spying on us," he explained.

"Another spy?" I asked; my voice sounded distant and unfamiliar.

"Seems that way," Landry confirmed. He stepped closer to me; his eyes softening. "I don't want you worrying about this. I'm going to deal with it."

"The entire kingdom now knows the truth...." I said, my entire body still numb. "My brother..."

"It's going to be dealt with."

...

Landry's POV

Landry didn't want to say this in front of Bernice, but he already knew who would bug her room. He had no doubt that there were other bugs around the palace as well and he wouldn't stop until each one was destroyed. Bernice went back to her room to shield herself from the gossiping maids. He knew the entire kingdom was going to be furious with him for keeping this from them and he made a plan to send a statement to the kingdom. "Jessie, I need to speak with you," Landry said through a mindlink as he went back to his study.

Jessie appeared at his doorway right away.

"What are you going to do?" Jessie asked, closing the door behind her. "This is serious Landry. Now she's out in the open. She's vulnerable to attack..."

She was right; they needed to keep Bernice safe. Word would get back to the vampires and bears soon enough and they won't be happy about being deceived by an omega. They are going to want her dead and they know she's weak enough to attack.

The kingdom just found out one of their best warriors was an Omega; they aren't going to be happy.

Landry already suspected who would leak such information.

"I want you to banish Cora from your palace."

"Cora?" Jessie gasped. "You think Cora did this?"

"She's the only one with enough motive to do such a thing. I don't trust her. I haven't for a while. I want her gone, Jessie. No questions."

"I don't understand. Why would she do such a thing?" Jessie asked, shaking her head with dismay written all over her face. "Does she want to be luna that badly?"

"I said no questions," Landry said in a low and threatening tone. "Just please, banish her from your palace."

"Landry, I need to know what she did that was so bad-"

"Jessie," he growled, slamming his fists on his desk, causing her to flinch. "Now is not the time. I have to deal with the uprising of the kingdom."

"I'm not leaving until you tell me the truth," Jessie said firmly, folding her arms across her chest. "She was once our friend and now she's not. I need to know why I'm kicking her out of my palace." "Because she's been deceiving us," Landry said through his teeth. "She always has been. She can't be trusted."

"We don't know for sure if she did this," Jessie reminded him. "We can't punish her for something we aren't sure of."

"We can punish her for what she already did though."

"And what would that be?"

She was smart and knew him well. But he couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth; so, he remained silent.

"Landry..." she said, stepping closer to him. "I'm your sister; you can trust me. Tell me what happened."

Landry sighed; if he wanted Cora gone, he needed to tell Jessie the truth.

"This stays between us... in this office. Understood? Not even Bernice can know."

She nodded her head once, sitting down in one of the chairs.

He told her everything, leaving out no details. She flinched, gasped, and cried as he told her the story. It was everything Landry wanted to avoid.

"She was trying to get pregnant, to trap me into marrying her..." he concluded. "So, I banned her from our lives. But now she's returned. And I can't seem to get rid of her."