Chapter 188

Cara’s POV

The next morning, at the brunch for the contenders of the Global Princess Competition, I arrived early, wanting to make a good first impression. Yet, even though I arrived early, I still seemed to be one of the last few to arrive.

The others all turned to look at me as I shuffled through them in the large banquet hall, searching to find the placard with my name indicating my place at one of the large, round tables that dotted the room.

When I finally found it, my heart sank a little. I seemed to be placed between two women from the BearClaw pack, which was filled with bear shifters. The rules must have expanded this year to allow for all kinds of shifters. I was pleased for this change, but not as much to be wedged between them.

The BearClaw pack preferred to only deal with other bear packs. They had little to no interest in interacting with the wolf packs, even to trade. That made their appearance here someone curious, even if I was pleased to see more packs being represented this year.

It seemed as if I was sitting between a pair of sisters, Claudia and Charlotte Claw. I recognized their name more than their faces. They were the only daughters of the BearClaw Alpha. I’d come across many of their family names in my time working as Beta for both BloodyMoon and DuskWolf packs.

Though I’d only seen their picture a few times, I knew it was them right away as they approached me. Both were six feet tall and broad shouldered. They had beautiful, symmetrical faces and long blonde hair.

Claudia, the oldest, had her hair in a braid. Charlotte wore hers down. Though there was a two year gap between them, I could not tell any other noticeable differences between them.

“Aren’t you the Beta of this pack?” Charlotte asked me.

“No, she’s an Auburn. Can’t you tell from the hair?” Claudia said.

Both of them had to look down at me. Still, I tried to stand tall.

“Actually, I’m both,” I said. “Cara Auburn. Nice to meet you.” I held out my hand for a shake.

Both of them looked down at it but neither moved to take it.

“Don’t mind them,” said another woman, who snaked her way between them with catlike grace. She accepted my handshake, though I hadn’t been offering it to her. I didn’t pull away though, happy for some type of recognition. “Bears have no manners.”

Claudia huffed as Charlotte crossed her arms.

“Forgive me,” I said. “I don’t recognized you.”

“I’m Georgina,” she said, “But please call me Georgie.”

“A cat,” Charlotte said with distain. “That’s almost worse than wolves.”

“A panther, actually. Thank you. My kind are more solitary than pack-like, though we still all make our home in WhiskerEye,” Georgie said.

I recognized the pack name. It was distant, from nearly the other side of the continent. Georgie had come a great distance to compete. Perhaps her apparent unbridled confidence was warranted.

She glanced down at our table. “Seems they put all us outcasts at the same table.”

I didn’t want to correct her, but I wasn’t an outcast. Perhaps she didn’t know that I was from this pack. “I don’t think that’s it,” I said. “After all, I’m from BloodyMoon.”

“Ah, but there’s still something off about you, isn’t there?” Georgie said. She had a glint in her eye as she looked at me. With the way she circled me, studying me, I could tell that she didn’t miss much. Leaning close, she whispered so the others didn’t hear. “You don’t have a wolf, do you?”

My heartrate picked up. How could she tell, just from looking at me? “I do too,” I said. It wasn’t a lie. My wolf was just sleeping at the moment.

She shrugged. “Nothing to be ashamed of. I know quite a few wolfless who I am fond of.”

If Georgie could tell, I wondered how many others could as well. Glancing around, I could have sworn I felt the eyes of many of the wolves in the room looking at me, yet I couldn’t seem to catch them staring no matter how quick I was.

Did others look down on me because of my wolfless status? Did they not see me as true competition in this contest?

They would regret that mistake, if so. I didn’t come here just to compete. I came here to win. I was going to prove myself to these people, and to everyone else too – my brothers, Alaric, myself. I wasn’t some fragile flower who was going to bend over and succumb to my illness.

I was going to fight. And I was going to win. Against the illness. And in this competition.

A few wolves from other packs rounded out our table and we sat to begin the brunch. I didn’t mind being bracketed by the Claw Sisters as we sat. Their tallness helped block the view of some of the eyes I felt boring into me.

The girls across the table did though. Wolves, though I didn’t know their pack.

“Are you an Auburn?” one of them asked me.

“Yes,” I replied.

They glanced at each other and giggled.

The other then asked, “Are any of your brothers single?”

“She wants to know about Aidan,” the other said.

“No!”

“Hush, there’s no use hiding it. I’m more partial to Ryan myself.”

“Uh,” I said, taken slightly off-guard by the question. “I don’t know if they are seeing anyone at the moment. I don’t think so…”

The girls both made high pitched squealing noises. “Can you introduce us?”

“I… uh…”

“Ignore them,” said another wolf at our table. Her hair was black as night, just as the heavy eyeliner around her eyes. “The Alpha from DuskWood is the only one anyone should be fawning over.”

“Alaric?” said one of the giggling girls.

“Alaric,” the dark-haired girl said with reverence. “You can have all the Auburns. I would marry Alaric in a minute if he asked me.”

Something dark twisted inside of me. It was cold, icy, churning around in my gut. It made me think dark thoughts, like that I should shout at this girl to back off of Alaric, that he belonged to me, that he was my mate and my love and no one else’s.

The feelings came out of nowhere, coiling around inside of me.

I’d felt jealousy before, but never like this. Never for someone that didn’t even know Alaric.

But maybe it was because I too had no claim on Alaric at the moment. Our relationship had its ups and downs, but right now, it had never been so strained.

How could I let anyone move in while things were as they were? What if Alaric found and actually fell for this woman…?

The logical side of my brain still held some power inside of me, fortunately, and kept me from acting on any of these feelings. I could recognize that they weren’t rational.

This girl didn’t mean any harm, and Alaric was handsome. Of course people would notice that.

Yet, I felt one pair of eyes watching me more than the rest. Turning, I saw Georgie staring at me.

Had she seen my jealousy? How much had I inadvertently revealed?