Chapter 214

Cara’s POV

I moved without even realizing it. One minute, I was on the stage. The next, I was down near the exit, standing beside Alaric. My hand clutched Lilia’s by the wrist, as I pried her touch away from his chest.

Both Alaric and Lilia seemed surprised by my sudden appearance. A few breaths later, Alaric seemed relieved. Lilia, however, appeared annoyed, her nose scrunching.

She ripped her hand away from me, returning it to her own side.

“Back off, Cara,” Lilia said. “No one was talking to you.”

“Actually, I prefer her presence,” Alaric said. “It is you, Lilia, who was attempting to touch me without my consent.”

She frowned deeper. “It was a simple pat. Don’t forget, there was a time when you welcomed my touch.”

“I’d been a fool then, but no longer,” Alaric said. “Do not touch me, Lilia, or our children ever again.” Alaric’s voice lowered as his eyes flashed red. “Or there will be more permanent consequences for you this time.”

“Are you threatening me?” she gasped.

“Yes,” he said.

“Even if he wasn’t, I would be,” I added. “The people here might not be fully aware of the atrocities you’ve committed against my family, but I remember. And I will never forget.”

“Neither will I,” Alaric added.

Lilia crossed her arms. “You are both the worst.” Glaring at Alaric, she said, “I don’t know what I ever saw in you.”

“Lilia! Cara! To the stage!” the director called. “We’re waiting on you too.”

I waited, staring hard at Lilia, for her to move first. For a moment, she seemed like she wasn’t going to and we would likely be stuck there in a standoff all morning. But finally, with a defeated huff, she turned and walked to the stage.

Alaric and I shared a look. “I’ll be back. Don’t leave without me.”

“I won’t,” I told him. Then we went our separate ways.

Back on stage, I took position but remained on guard, even as the director signaled for the music to start and for all of us to go through our steps. As this was the last rehearsal, the director said she wouldn’t be satisfied until we could go through everything without mistakes or issues.

As such, I did my best to follow my steps, all while keeping an eye on Lilia.

Despite my suspicions, she didn’t move once against me while we moved.

During a break, before we moved away from each other, she rolled her eyes at me. “If you keep glaring at me, Cara, you are going to keep messing up. I know you are obsessed with me, but control yourself. It’s embarrassing.”

The other wolves snickered as Lilia walked away from me, welcomed openly into their company.

“What’s her problem anyway?” one of the wolves asked Lilia before they moved out of earshot.

Unfortunately, I also heard Lilia’s reply. “She’s always been jealous of me. Don’t forget that it’s hear lies that had me wrongly exiled from DuskWood pack.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Georgie said. “She just wants to get a rise out of you. That would feel like a victory to her.”

I knew Georgie was right, but it still seemed strange that she didn’t try to interfere with my performance today. It almost felt like she was playing some kind of mind games with me. Maybe she wanted me to relax, to lower my guard, so she could more easily strike at me.

Or maybe she was right and I was obsessing over her, chasing shadows where there were none.

I didn’t think she had changed. She’d done far too many terrible things to me and my family for me to suspect that. But maybe an attack would come from her in a different way. She could be using my paranoia here against me to cast me in a bad light with the others, while secretly plotting something else when I’d be less likely to expect it.

For now, I was comforted by the Claw Sisters and Georgie, but I didn’t feel safe. They had my back, but what if the attack came from a different direction?

Knowing Lilia, could I really afford to lower my guard, even for one moment?

Alaric’s POV

As much as I wanted to stay and ensure Cara’s safety, I had to trust her. As she had told me she would be alright on her own and didn’t want me fretting over her, I had to respect that, so I left the venue and drove to the Alpha headquarters instead.

There, in a meeting room, I joined Eamon, Landon, Ryan, Aidan, and Colin, who were already sitting at the table. There was an open spot for me, which I immediately went to and sat down at.

“You dropped her off at the rehearsal?” Eamon asked.

“Yes,” I said. “Lilia was there, of course, but Cara seemed well protected. She has befriended a panther shifter and a pair of bears.”

“Good,” Eamon said. “They can hopefully protect her in the places we cannot.”

“That’s too many places,” Aidan said. “And they’ll want to compete as well. They aren’t Cara’s bodyguards and can’t be expected to watch her every minute.”

“True,” Eamon said, frowning a little.

“Can we get a bodyguard into the competition?” Ryan said. To my knowledge, this wasn’t the first time he had suggested this strategy.

“That someone would have to be a princess,” Landon said.

“So we make something up,” Ryan said.

“You are talking about defrauding a world-renowned competition,” Landon said, shaking his head.

“It’s not like the bodyguard would win,” Ryan said.

“Whatever we do has to be legitimate,” Eamon said. He glanced at me. “The commission has already made threats against this pack.”

I remembered that meeting well, and an anger similar to what I felt back then stirred within me. The commission seemed to have some kind of vendetta against Cara herself, perhaps because she presently couldn’t shift.

I’d wanted to punch that commissioner. I still did.

“To hell with our reputation,” Aidan said. “This is Cara we’re talking about.”

“Cara would be annoyed to hear you say that,” Landon smoothly replied. “She certainly wouldn’t want a war started on her behalf.”

“Especially one that would turn the entire continent against BloodyMoon and DuskWood packs,” Colin said coolly.

The twins both sat back in their chairs, sharing the same look of annoyance.

“Whatever we decide to do, we must do within the confines of the rules and the law,” I said, even as it annoyed me too. But Landon was right. Cara would be furious if she knew we were even talking about breaking the rules on her behalf.

She was so eager to prove herself. We needed to give her the chance to do so. Yet, with that being said, we needed to ensure that others weren’t trying to make things unfair for her either.

If Lilia was planning on hurting her…

If anyone else was planning on sabotaging her…

We had to step in to stop that, preferably without Cara even knowing about it. This way, we could allow her to focus on the games themselves and not be so concerned with her own safety.

“We need to plan fast,” Eamon said. “I’ve been informed that one of the early events is a cooking showcase.”

“Why should that worry us?” Ryan asked.

“Because,” Landon said quickly, before I could. Though my own stomach dropped. “Knives.”