Chapter 60: A New Kind of Scandal

Three weeks after Rowan became Supreme Alpha, I learned that peace could apparently be destroyed by a photograph.

Tessa called me before breakfast.

"Don't open PackFeed."

Naturally, I opened PackFeed.

The first trending post showed Rowan leaving a Council building beside a beautiful blonde woman.

The headline read:

SUPREME ALPHA'S SECRET LUNA?

I stared at it.

Then at Rowan, who was sitting across from me eating toast.

"Do you have a secret Luna?"

He nearly choked.

"What?"

I turned the phone around.

His expression went from confusion to disbelief.

"That's Dr. Evelyn Hart."

"Should I know who that is?"

"She's the new director of the Council medical ethics office."

I read the article.

Anonymous sources claimed Rowan had been spending "unusual amounts of private time" with Evelyn.

The evidence consisted of three photographs.

In one, they were leaving a meeting.

In another, Evelyn handed Rowan a folder.

In the third, Rowan opened a car door for her.

Scandalous.

I scrolled farther.

Comments were worse.

[Alpha Nessa should've known a Supreme Alpha needs a proper Luna.]

[She's too independent. Men like Rowan eventually want a softer mate.]

[Maybe he finally realized being with a former fat girl isn't good for his image.]

That one made my thumb stop.

Old poison.

Different bottle.

Rowan noticed.

"Give me the phone."

"No."

"Nessa."

"I'm fine."

His face said he didn't believe me.

The strange thing was that I mostly was.

The comment hurt.

But it didn't become truth simply because someone typed it.

I kept reading.

Another account posted old photos of me.

Before weight loss.

After weight loss.

Recent photos where I was slightly heavier than at freshman orientation.

A red circle had been drawn around my waist.

[She's letting herself go now that she secured him.]

I laughed.

Rowan looked alarmed.

"What?"

"I've apparently secured you."

"Congratulations."

"Do I get a certificate?"

"Probably through the Council."

I showed him.

His expression darkened.

"I want the account reported."

"It already violates harassment rules."

"I mean legally."

"Rowan."

"They're using private medical-style body analysis."

"They're idiots."

"They're targeted idiots."

He was right about one thing.

The posts weren't random.

Within hours, dozens of coordinated accounts repeated the same narrative.

Nessa was unsuitable.

Nessa was insecure.

Nessa was controlling Rowan.

Evelyn was the "proper" Supreme Luna.

Someone was manufacturing a public triangle.

Rhea arrived with coffee and fury.

"I traced twelve accounts."

"Already?"

"I enjoy grudges."

"Who runs them?"

"Public relations firms."

Rowan frowned.

"Paid by whom?"

"That's the interesting part."

The firms had received money from political committees opposing the Moonwell reforms.

Not illegal by itself.

But one committee had direct ties to former Council officials removed after Malcolm Reed's arrest.

"They can't attack the charter directly anymore," I said.

"So they're attacking you," Rhea replied.

"Why me?"

"Because you're visible."

Rowan's jaw tightened.

"Because you're my mate."

"Also because I'm Alpha."

"Yes."

Rhea nodded.

"They want to prove separate Alpha mates create instability at the top."

There it was.

If they could turn my independence into a relationship crisis, they could argue the old Supreme Luna system was necessary.

I called Evelyn.

She answered immediately.

"Alpha Nessa, I was about to contact you."

"Congratulations on becoming my romantic rival."

Silence.

Then she laughed so hard she had to put the phone down.

I liked her instantly.

She was thirty-two, happily married, and six months pregnant.

Her husband posted a picture of himself holding the scandal headline with the caption:

Should I be worried?

That helped.

But I didn't want the response to become "don't worry, she's married."

Even if Evelyn were single, Rowan walking beside her wouldn't be betrayal.

Trust couldn't depend on locking him away from every attractive woman.

So we did nothing dramatic.

Rowan issued one statement.

Dr. Hart is a respected Council official. Alpha Nessa is my mate. Stop harassing both women.

I issued another.

My body is not a political office. Its measurements are not public policy.

That line spread everywhere.

By afternoon, the scandal began collapsing.

Then the anonymous source published something real.

A private Council schedule showing Rowan and Evelyn had met six times without me.

The implication was obvious.

But the schedule also exposed classified medical reform meetings.

This was no longer gossip.

Someone inside the Supreme Alpha's office was leaking documents.

Rowan stared at the screenshot.

Only nine people had access.

His new administration was barely a month old.

"Internal leak," he said.

"Again."

I hated those words more every time.

The gossip had been bait.

The real attack was inside the Council.

And whoever had done it knew exactly which old insecurity to use against me.

That made it personal.

Unfortunately for them, the girl they were targeting no longer existed in the way they remembered.

I wasn't going to starve myself.

I wasn't going to beg Rowan for reassurance every five minutes.

I wasn't going to attack Evelyn.

I was going to find the leak.

Rhea smiled when I said that.

"Now this sounds fun."

"No felonies."

"You always ruin everything."

By evening, Council security had begun interviewing everyone with schedule access. I insisted that the investigation remain separate from the gossip campaign unless evidence connected them. It would have been easy to assume one villain controlled everything simply because the timing fit. I had learned how dangerous convenient stories could be. Knox had once decided a photograph told him everything about me. I wasn't going to make the same kind of mistake with someone else's guilt. Facts first. Anger afterward. Rhea complained that this approach was less entertaining, which reassured me that it was probably correct.