Chapter 230

Cara’s POV

In a flash, my body contorted, my limbs twisting as fur erupted from all over my skin. I fell forward, down onto four legs. My vision turned red.

All I could see was these attackers circling around my mate, trying to take him away from me.

Away from us, my wolf and I now one.

No, we would not allow this. We would protect our mate as he always had others.

I could see him twitching, trying hard to fight off the paralyzing poison that bound him. Blood oozed from his side. I could smell it so clearly now, my senses heightened, and it made anger burn even hotter within me.

My growl was the only thing that alerted the attackers before I started moving.

Even with Lucy, perhaps I wasn’t the strongest werewolf in the world, but when driven by the need to protect my mate, my family, my strength took on a new level. I didn’t care what happened to me, or how long it would take my sore muscles to recover after I pushed them too hard.

In this moment, to protect Alaric, I would not back down until he was safe.

Surging forward, I smashed my wolfly body into the closest attacker. Immediately, they flew several feet before crashing to the ground. The others turned in surprise. I did not give them time to react before I started moving again, crashing into another before slashing at a third with my claws.

They rolled backwards, clutching their wounds.

“What the hell?!” one of them shouted. “I thought she was wolfless!”

“She’s supposed to be!”

“The dagger!” One of them tried to hurry to the dagger, smeared with poison and Alaric’s blood. I got there first, and shoved it away from them, before crunching my teeth down on the leg of the person dumb enough to have tried for it.

I fought like a woman possessed, desperate to protect my mate. The others were caught off guard and on the back foot. Even when they tried to rally, they couldn’t seem to compare with my roaring anger which heightened all of my abilities.

“This isn’t worth my life!” one of them cried out then, and turned and dashed into the forest.

Quickly, others followed them, one by one, until only the initial attacker was left. He glared at me, at the knife, and at Alaric, before he cursed and ran off into the trees.

I had half a mind to give chase, to make sure they suffered as they wanted Alaric to suffer. But to do so would be to leave him undefended. In his weakened state, I couldn’t chance that they wouldn’t return.

So I had to stay. I had to…

Ug.

My legs trembled beneath me, my strength feeling sapped away from me. Had I touched the paralyzing poison by accident? I didn’t feel any pricks of pain.

“I’m sorry,” Lucy whispered in my mind. “I need to rest…”

“Wait!” I called desperately, but it was too late. Already, she was pulling back from me, returning to her dormant slumber.

I crumpled to the ground as my body shifted once more, becoming pitifully human again.

Even with Lucy gone, my own exhaustion was spiking. It seemed as if we had both pushed ourselves to our limits, and now I was paying the price.

Clawing my fingers through the dirt, I made my way to Alaric. As tired as I was, he was still more vulnerable than me, unable to move.

In desperation, I grabbed at one of his arms and attempted to tug him, at least to the shadow of one of the trees, so that we would not be immediately seen if those attackers returned. Yet, as heavy as he was, I wasn’t sure I would have been able to move him even if I wasn’t so weak.

With Lucy’s help, maybe, but she was gone now. I was alone here, with barely more strength than a child. My attempts to move him were useless.

Just as I regretted my own uselessness, the gray sky seemed to open up, and a rain started, pouring down onto us both. I moved around Alaric, shifting my knees under his head, to keep his face up above the mud. He blinked up at me with his deep blue eyes.

His face was slack, likely paralyzed too, but in his eyes, I saw his gratitude and his love.

He didn’t need to thank me. To protect him, I would do anything. I knew the feeling was mutual.

As the rain crashed down, harder now, I leaned forward, shielding Alaric’s face as much as I could.

We were going to survive this. We had to.

Noel’s POV

I had promised Cara not to kill anyone. That was the only reason I stilled my hand when all I really wanted to do was to squeeze the life out of Melinda.

She was still lying, even with Alaric gone, even knowing I could see straight through her.

It was almost as if she had a death wish, tempting me to end her. Testing my patience.

“What is the goal?” I asked her once more. “Killing Cara would not turn Alaric to your side. You could attempt to kidnap her, but Alaric, her brothers, and I would find her again.”

“Maybe I just want to hurt Alaric,” Melinda said, and for the first time, she seemed to be telling the truth.

I paused, somewhat surprised. If that was the truth, then why go after Cara at all? Unless she meant to hurt Alaric through Cara. But his revenge would be swift. Surely she knew that.

Unless…

She means that she literally wants to hurt him, not just emotionally, but physically.

Going after Cara, she would know that Alaric would intervene. He would do anything to protect Cara, even put his own life on the line. He’d already done so in the past, a proof of concept.

“Cara isn’t the target,” I said, realizing it now.

“I suppose there’s no sense in keeping it secret now,” she said. “Alaric isn’t likely to change his mind about the disgraced elders and my family any time soon, even if we gain the upper hand in this contest. Even if we turn public opinion to our side. He’s too damn stubborn. The only way to ensure that we can return is if he’s out of the way.”

As rain started, she laughed. “Likely, the deed is already done.”

“You will hang for this,” I said.

“How will you ever prove it?” she mocked. “You are as much an outsider as anyone. No one will believe you.”

Grabbing her roughly by the arm, I dragged her away from the secluded spot and closer to the grandstand. By now, the rain had truly opened up, and most of the onlookers had ran for cover.

“You will confess,” I insisted.

“I won’t,” she said. “And if they are both missing, who is to say they just didn’t run away together? You won’t be able to prove a thing.”

I swallowed down my panic. If anything happened to Cara… Would that null and void our contract? Would I be able to act, if she wasn’t here to call me on it?

Yet, before I could get too far into my bloodthirsty fantasies, I saw movement on the trail through the forest.

A figure coming towards the start/finish line.

I braced myself, not sure what to expect. The rain dulled most of my senses, making it difficult to ascertain if who was coming was friend or foe.

But then, as he neared, I exhaled in relief.

Alaric was walking down the trail, holding a passed-out Cara in his arms.