Chapter 205

Cara’s POV

After speaking with the commission’s assistants, I was able to convince them to let me have an audience with the full commission for the next day. The assistant didn’t outright say so, but I felt as if they had been expecting my call. Everything felt very prepared, especially being able to get an appointment so quickly.

I’d almost wished they would have pushed it out a few days, so I could have had more time to mentally prepare. Though, I supposed it was better to get it over with sooner rather than later, so that I wouldn’t be stuck in a state of stress limbo, worried about what could happen.

With such short time to prepare though, I would need some help. I couldn’t tell just anyone what was happening here. My brothers would be too protective to actually help, insisting on taking care of everything themselves.

I thought of telling Alaric, remembering this morning and the tender way he had held me, but with a blush, I shook away the thought by remembering how he had sneaked out of bed as well.

No, a situation like this called for the support of a friend. A best friend, ideally.

With that in mind, I grabbed the phone again and this time dialed a much more familiar number.

Ruby was probably at the hospital, and for a moment I regretted the call, not wanting to interrupt anything important. Then again, if she was with a patient, she just wouldn’t answer. With how it neared noon, it was much more likely that she was on lunch.

My suspicions were confirmed when she answered, her words mumbled, her mouth clearly full. “Hello?”

“Ruby, I need your help.”

She chewed and swallowed in a hurry. “Tell me everything.”

I did, sharing the director’s warnings and the bullying of my fellow competitors. She cursed them out under her breath but didn’t interrupt me. So I continued on, telling her about my meeting with the commission scheduled for the next day.

“It’s nowhere in the rules that a wolfless can’t compete,” she said at once.

“Are you sure?” I asked. When I’d received the packet of information about the competition, she had been more interested in the rulebook than I had been. She had pointed some things out to me while she had read through the whole thing standing in my kitchen.

“I’m positive,” Ruby said. “It goes against their message of unity among the packs as well. They allow all kinds of people, from all kinds of packs. You said there’s bears and a panther? Yeah, they should allow for wolfless too.”

“Okay,” I said, starting to feel more confident.

“Leave this to me,” she said. “I’ll go through the rulebook and highlight some things. Tomorrow, I’ll come over and we’ll prep you. I’ll even go with you to this meeting. There’s no way in hell they are going to take this from you, Cara.”

Her fiery attitude made me smile and I felt a measure of relief, knowing she was in my corner. How could I lose with her to back me?

“Thank you, Ruby.”

“I’m your friend, Cara. You don’t have to thank me for this, or for anything else, frankly. This stuff just goes without saying.”

When I went home that afternoon, Alaric immediately left his office to check on me. I must have given him a scare yesterday, by going right for the wine, but after a full day of bullying, I had felt almost in a daze, like I’d been caught somewhere in the past.

I’d worked hard to be the strong Beta I was today, putting those weaknesses of the past behind me. I didn’t want to fall back into that, but with how the other competitors had treated me, I had slipped back into that old defeated mentality more than I would have liked.

“How was your day today?” he asked as he casually approached me in the kitchen. I had the fridge open, but I avoided the wine today, grabbing some apple juice instead. When he saw what I was holding, he seemed to relax marginally. “Better, I hope.”

“Better,” I told him, though I was still nervous about everything.

He nodded, but didn’t seem fully convinced. “You were really out of it yesterday.”

“Yeah… sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” he said quickly. “I was just worried. It wasn’t like you.”

I shouldn’t tell Alaric what happened. He was like my brothers with his strong protective instincts. If I told him the truth, he would likely, as them, would want to handle everything himself.

Yet, he had promised to try to be more supportive of me and my decisions. Perhaps this was the perfect opportunity for him to prove that he could mean that.

I didn’t want to test him. That felt disingenuous. But that wasn’t all this was. Yes, I wanted to see how he would react to what happened, but I also wanted to tell him, just to tell him. To have his support, and his comfort.

“You don’t have to tell me anything,” he said. “But I wish you would.”

That tiny plea was enough to push me over the edge, and I spilled the truth, telling him everything just as I had done with Ruby, ending with how Ruby was going to help me with the commission meeting.

While I had spoken, Alaric stood very still and quietly, listening to me with a stone-faced expression. He was so focused that he probably hadn’t noticed how his hands clenched into tight fists.

As I finished, I worried he might disappoint me. His teeth were clenched, his jaw tight.

“Ruby is going to help you?” he asked after a moment.

“Yes,” I said. “She’s confident about the rules, and is going to prep me before I go into the meeting.”

He nodded once, curt. For a moment he was still as a statue. “I want to help you too, but I… don’t want to be in your way.”

“All I need from you right now is your support,” I told him. “I don’t want anyone to fix this for me. I can do it myself, I just need you to believe in that.”

“I do,” he said. He noticed his clenched fists then, and forcibly pulled apart his fingers. He glared down at his hands, like it pained him to do so. With a sigh, he looked up at me again, expression clearing. “You have my support, and always will.”

“So you will let me handle this on my own?”

He swallowed hard. “Yes.”

I could see how difficult that was for him, and it filled me with gratitude. He was fighting his natural protective instincts to try to give me what I wanted and needed.

He was making efforts for me, to be the kind of man I deserved.

“Thank you,” I told him.

“But,” he said quickly. “If you need me to step in, I will do so in a heartbeat. I don’t care what happens to me or my reputation, I will not allow anyone to speak to you or treat you like they have been.”

As if realizing he said too much, he quickly closed his mouth.

He cleared his throat. “If you need me too.”

I was grateful for this too, and thanked him again. It was a relief knowing I had so many people who cared about me, who were willing to fight for me if needed.

But I told him, “I need to do it on my own this time.”