Chapter 211

Cara’s POV

“There’s no need to be a bitch, Cara,” said one of the nearby wolves.

“She’s learning. You didn’t pick up positioning on your first time either,” said another.

“I’m starting to think you are just jealous,” said a third.

Those wolves, the ones who had come to hate me anyway for reasons I didn’t even know, started to circle me, ganging up on me like I was the one who had wronged Lilia and not the other way around.

How could these girls have their facts so wrong? Didn’t they understand how vindictive Lilia was? How she was purposefully orchestrating everything to turn them against me?

Once I was isolated, then surely, she would make whatever move she was planning. In my weakened state, I didn’t know if I was going to be ready for it.

I’d been preparing for a competition, not to compete while also keeping an eye out for a knife aimed for my back.

On top of everything, I could already tell how furious Alaric and my brothers were going to be. It would be a miracle if they didn’t pull me from the competition for this. And maybe they’d be right to, to protect me.

I hated Lilia for everything she had done in the past, but also for everything she was still doing to me now. Still trying to control my life. Still trying to take over and push me to the side.

If I didn’t compete, if my wolf never reappeared, and if I withered up and died, she would celebrate. She would dance on my grave and these wolves, these girls who didn’t know anything, would likely make excuses for her even then.

“Cara’s always been hateful,” Lilia said, as one of the wolves helped her up to her feet. “She pushed me on purpose. She wanted me to fall down.”

The wolves’ angry eyes shifted back to me. I was so stunned that they could believe such treachery that I couldn’t speak for a moment.

“Lilia’s lying,” Charlotte said, stepping into the space beside me. “I saw the whole thing. Lilia, you ran into Cara and then fell down on your own. The whole thing was fake. Cara didn’t land a hand on you.”

Lilia’s upper lip twisted into a barely-there snarl. “What do you know? You could be lying.”

Claudia moved beside her sister. The pair were intimidating, taller than anyone else in the room. “I didn’t just hear you call my sister a liar, did I?”

Some of the offended wolves start to backtrack, seeing that they attracted the ire of the Claw Sisters. Even Lilia herself started to pale.

“Well,” she said. “Be more careful.” Then she hurried to the side.

The Claw Sisters and Georgie pulled me in the other direction.

“I don’t understand what she would lie about that,” Charlotte said.

“She hates me,” I said. “I’m not lying when I said she tried to kill me. She kidnapped my daughter, Mia. She can play the victim all she wants, but she was the mastermind.”

“I can tell she’s full of it, that’s all I need to know,” Georgie said.

“We don’t like liars in our territory,” Claudia said. “With food as scarce as it can be in our pack, we need to trust our brothers and sisters, not make enemies of them. Her deception is… unnerving.”

That explained why Charlotte had been so confused. If she wasn’t accustomed to liars, she wouldn’t understand one when she met one.

Unfortunately, Lilia was a liar to the core.

“You have to be careful,” Georgie said. “We can watch your back here on the stage, but during the events… There might be times where she can find you alone without protection and without cameras. You will be in danger.”

“I know to watch myself with her,” I said. “I will find ways to survive this.” I was a survivor. I wasn’t going to die to my condition. Nor was I going to die to Lilia either. Not now. Not after fighting against her for so long.

“Just watch your back,” Georgie said. “If she hates you half as much as you say, you are in for hell the next couple of weeks.”

With Lilia here, I was already in hell.

“We’ll keep an eye on you when we can,” Georgie added. “Right, girls?”

“I hate liars,” Charlotte said.

Claudia nodded at me. “In our territory, pack means family. Stick with us, and we’ll keep you safe.”

Georgie and the Claw Sisters kept their word the rest of rehearsal, even if it meant messing up the positioning a few times to keep Lilia away from me. The director was pulling her hair out but I felt contented and safe, knowing I had a pair of bears and a panther on my side.

“The show is in two days,” the director said, sounding stressed. She might start pulling her hair out at any minute. “At this rate, I will be a laughing stock.”

I wanted to console her, but she seemed beyond it at the moment. With people starting to break away, some heading back to the hotel, others out to eat, she couldn’t keep the rehearsal together anymore.

With a call of distress, she turned on her heel and ran to her office.

“She seems… intense,” Claudia said.

“She’s very passionate about her work,” I said, trying to be generous.

“She’s something, alright,” Georgie added.

As I gathered my stuff, getting ready to leave, I was surprised to see Alaric waiting by the door. He must have been waiting for me, but his glare was on Lilia, his hatred so hot, he seemed like he wanted to light her on fire with his eyes.

I thanked my new friends once more, and they were my friends now, and then made my way down to Alaric.

“I take it you see…” I started.

“I won’t let her hurt you or the kids again,” he said, his voice like ice. “I don’t care what I have to do, or what becomes of me. If I have to… I’ll do it. Whatever keeps you safe.”

Seeing the budding rage in him, knowing he was close to shifting, I gently placed my hand onto his chest right over his heart. It pounded fiercely under my hand.

“Alaric,” I said. “Calm.”

He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, as if trying to listen to me, but too soon his eyes were opened and back on Lilia. An Alpha wouldn’t turn away from a threat. This was all instinct he was running on now.

“Let’s leave,” I told him. “We’ll go together, okay?”

“You first,” he said. “I need to be between you and her.”

“Okay,” I said and did as he asked – for now. I had no idea how this was going to work in the future. Eventually, we were going to be in a position where he couldn’t physically shield me from Lilia.

I was going to have to protect myself.

“Eamon and I tried to have her removed from the contest,” Alaric said, when he could breathe again, when we were in his car. “But that damn commission…”

“Yeah, I agree,” I said, remembering my own run-in with them. “But, if we can’t take her down that way, then I’ll have to do so within the confines of the rules.”

“What do you have in mind?” Alaric asked me.

I looked at him. “I intend to win the whole thing.”