Chapter 247

Cara’s POV

When it came time for the match, Georgie, Charlotte, and myself stepped outside the locker room to watch the match. We didn’t have a great view from there, not with all the spectators standing around on the grass in front of us, but with the ring on a bit of a platform, we could at least see some of it.

Claudia and Lilia stood on opposite ends of the ring, while a referee paced around in the space between them. An announcer went over the rules.

To keep things fair, the contenders were not allow to shift until the two minute mark. That mark would be announced with a buzzer. Once the buzzer sounded, the contenders could shift. Before then, they had to spar in their human forms only.

In human form, there was to be no biting or spiting or clawing. We were to fight with punches, kicks, and grapples alone. After shifting, everything was fair game.

Finally, to show good sportsmanship, contenders were to shake hands before and if able, after every match.

The specific wording rang alarm bells in my head. Good sportsmanship. Wasn’t that what Lilia had said too? Could that be a coincidence or…

Something could be off here. Knowing Lilia, I couldn’t count anything as simply coincidence. I had to pay attention for anything suspicious.

Lilia, on her half of the ring, seemed entirely too confident, too sure. Facing off with a bear in single sparring combat should be enough to make anyone nervous. A single bear was a worthy competitor for any single wolf, and one like Lilia, who hadn’t trained much, should be especially worried.

Yet she didn’t seem concerned at all.

“The combatants will now shake hands,” the referee announced.

Both Claudia and Lilia moved forward to the center of the ring. Claudia held her hand out first, then Lilia, and they shook. Once finished, they back up a few steps, creating some space between them.

Everything seemed fine so far.

Then, the bell rang, signaling the start of the fight. The crowd was riled up, each calling out for their favored contender. Too many were cheering for Lilia than I liked.

“My sister is going to bring her down with one punch,” Charlotte said confidently.

With Claudia’s superior strength and skill, she should win this easily. Yet, when Claudia took a step forward toward Lilia, she seemed to sway on her feet. She struggled to catch herself before she could fall.

“Something’s wrong,” Georgie said.

“She’s find,” Charlotte said. “Perhaps the ring is off-balance.”

“I don’t think so,” Georgie said.

Charlotte took another step, and nearly toppled over once more.

“Something is definitely wrong,” I said.

Alaric’s POV

There were only two bear shifters in the whole of the competition, but even I had heard of them. The Claw Sisters were renowned across the continent for their abilities and their strength.

In a fair fight, Claudia Claw, the oldest and more experienced of the two sisters, should easily become the victor here, especially against Lilia, who had so far proven herself only adequate in the competition.

Yet, after Lilia landed two punches to Claudia’s stomach, which she had been way too slow to blow, the bear shifter seemed already on the back foot, looking like she might collapse at any minute.

“Claudia isn’t herself,” Ryan said, his fingers curling tightly around the arms of his seat. “She fought harder than this in her practicing with me. She wouldn’t hold back in the competition itself!”

I’d seen some of their sparring match and knew he was telling the truth. If Claudia held back in her fighting with Ryan, yet still fought harder than this, then there had to be some kind of interference holding her back.

“Look how unsteady she is on her feet,” Landon said. “It might be a tremendous testament to her strength that she hasn’t just fallen over yet.”

“You think she’s been poisoned?” Eamon said, already pulling out his phone. I watched as he dialed for emergency.

“Drugged, at the least,” Landon said.

“But how?” I asked. As Eamon was already working to ensure that Claudia would be tended to medically, the rest of us were left trying to determine how Lilia had drugged Claudia.

Perhaps they had spoken before the match. Did Lilia slip something into her drink?

Or did someone in the crowd below prick Claudia with some kind of needle as she walked by?

We didn’t have nearly enough answers for my liking.

Then, with one last punch, Claudia fell backwards, unconscious, and Lilia won the match.

The whole thing didn’t even last two minutes.

Cara’s POV

While the rest of us fought hard in our matches, Lilia continued to easily win hers. Each opponent that faced her fell in the same way. The opponent was woozy, took a few punches, then fell over before the two minute mark.

When there was a break in the event, the commission came to the locker room to announce the second bracket.

Charlotte, seeing the head commissioner, rushed away from the bench we had been sitting on.

“Lilia is cheating!” she said. “There is no way she should have been able to win her matches like she has, especially against my sister!”

The commission all turned to Charlotte and her outburst. Some of them seemed surprised, but the head commissioner seemed more annoyed than anything.

I noticed that none of the other wolves, even those who had been friendly with Lilia were now coming to her defense. Instead, everyone lifted their head, looking at Charlotte and the head commissioner, as if silently waiting for what was going to happen next.

“Your sister lost her fight,” the head commissioner said. “As did every opponent who faced Lilia this far.”

“Because she’s cheating,” Charlotte insisted.

“That’s ridiculous,” Lilia said, standing. The head commissioner held up a hand to her, and she fell silent.

The head commissioner lifted a brow at Charlotte. “Can you prove it?”

Charlotte faltered. “No… Not yet. But she must be cheating. There’s no way she could possibly have developed the strength needed to win those matches. And my sister! She seemed off-balance even as the fight began.”

“If your sister was off balance, that was her own fault,” the head commissioner said.

“But --!”

“That’s enough,” the head commissioner said. “Good sportsmanship was to be the name of the game today, but you seem to lack it, Charlotte Claw. As such, I hereby disqualify you from the rest of the contest.”

Charlotte stilled. “What?”

“You heard me.” He motioned to security who stepped forward, ready to usher Charlotte out. To everyone else, he said, “Does anyone else have anything to say on this matter? I don’t want to waste security’s time. They can have you all removed at once.”

I wanted nothing more than to throw my lot in with Charlotte. Lilia was definitely cheating, we just didn’t know how yet. But if I did, I’d be escorted out too. The head commissioner had been looking for ways to exclude me from the competition from the start. I couldn’t give him one.

Georgie beside me was also gritting her teeth. We had to stay quiet to stay in the competition. If we were kicked out now, we wouldn’t discover how Lilia was cheating and she would win. By staying, we were giving ourselves the option to expose her.

No one spoke up as Charlotte was led out of the locker room, though the new displeasure on many of the girls’ faces was obvious.

They glared at the head commissioner, and some even glared at Lilia, too.

Whatever goodwill Lilia had generated in the group was quickly dissolving.

Lilia, either unknowing or uncaring, just grinned.