Chapter 248

Cara’s POV

For a while, I focused on my own fights. If I couldn’t even make it long enough in the contest to fight Lilia, then I wouldn’t be able to figure out what was going on with her.

I did well in my fights, surprised by my own strength. The sparring contest had always been a part of the competition, though not the main part. So in my preparations for the competition, I had taken the time to train for this event.

As I had trained to fight wolfless, now that I had my wolf again, I felt that I was given an extra advantage. I could tell that I was pushing myself harder than most of my competitors.

My fights were still hard won, but with each one, I felt more confident. If this was a legitimate contest, I might even have had a chance at winning.

But with Lilia…

Lilia continued to pulverize her competition. In the locker room, all of the other girls were avoiding her now, giving her a wide berth. It was clear that she was cheating to everyone, but no one seemed able to figure out how.

With the next match between Georgie and Lilia, Georgie pulled me to the side.

“Come and stand at the edge of the ring for my fight,” she told me. “Don’t take your eyes off of her for a minute. I’ve been watching her before and after her matches, but she’s not doing anything obvious then. Nothing is going into anyone’s drinks. She’s not even approaching her opponents.”

Georgie looked at me with intensity. “I feel perfectly fine right now, Cara. Whatever she’s going to do to me, has to happen inside of the ring. If I have to fall so we can figure it out, I’m willing to do that. But you can’t let her get away with it, alright? Whatever she’s doing, don’t let her win.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Promise me,” Georgie said.

“I promise.”

One of the officials calls for Georgie and Lilia then, to head out to the ring.

After one final intense look at me, Georgie turned away.

I stayed as near to her as I could, following closely as she made her way through the crowd to her half of the ring. Once she was inside, I made my way through the crowd so that I could see the center of the ring. Georgie looked at me for a second, our eyes locked. She knew where I was and nodded.

Lilia didn’t seem to notice me at all.

“The contenders will now step forward to shake hands,” the referee announced.

Georgie and Lilia moved to the center of the ring. Lilia lifted her hand, and Georgie did too. Then, Georgie’s eyes went a little wide and she looked down at Lilia’s hand. She didn’t let go right away.

I followed her gaze and saw it for myself. Lilia was wearing a simple gold ring on her right hand, the hand used to shake.

Wearing jewelry wasn’t against the rules. Other contestants wore simple jewelry too. There just couldn’t be gemstones or brass knuckles or something that would give them unfair advantage.

Lilia jerked her hand back and Georgie let her go. Immediately, as Georgie took a step back, she stumbled slightly.

The fight itself lasted less than two minutes. Georgie didn’t even get a hit in. The one time she tried was so clumsy that Lilia had an eternity to avoid it.

Then Georgie fell to the mat, unconscious. Paramedics immediately moved in, ready to take her to the hospital.

Anger brewing in my heart, I hurried out of the crowd and back toward the locker room. Just before I could reach the door, I heard a voice call out from behind me.

“Cara!”

Turning, I saw Alaric. At once, he rushed to me and pulled me into his arms. He hid behind one of the team benches for the field, blocked from the rest of the field by a piles of unused lawn care equipment.

“I had to see you,” he said. “And tell you how wonderful you are doing.”

The whole situation with Lilia had me so much on edge that I found it hard to relax, even now in the arms of my beloved. I swayed forward into his arms nonetheless and, closing my eyes, tried to find peace in the steady beat of his heart so near to my own.

With this second bracket finishing, there are only a handful of contenders left. As such, it seemed very likely that I would face Lilia next.

I couldn’t let Georgie’s sacrifice go to waste. For her, for Claudia and Charlotte, and for every girl wrongfully kicked out of the competition, I had to discover just how Lilia was cheating and stop her.

The commission clearly wasn’t going to help, so I had to do it on my own. At least I had Alaric here for support, and I knew my brothers were nearby too.

“I’ll likely face Lilia next,” I told him.

“I know,” he replied, and rubbed his hand up and down my back soothingly.

“She’s cheating,” I said.

“I know that too. We suspect she’s drugging the contenders. Richard is at the hospital running tests on those that come in. So far they seem healthy, just unconscious.”

That was a relief. I had been worried that Lilia might have hurt them permanently.

“Is Claudia awake yet?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “Eamon and Landon keep checking in, but so far, there’s no news.”

“And nothing still from Noel?” I asked.

“I’m afraid not.”

Gods, I felt as if the odds were stacked against me.

“Have you noticed if Lilia is interacting with her opponents at all before the match?” Alaric asked.

Remembering what Georgie said, I share her suspicions with him now. She hadn’t seen anything suspicious before the matches, and she was observant enough to notice, certainly.

It had only been when she had been in the ring herself… The way she looked at that ring.

“Alaric,” I said then. “Do you think it’s possible that the drug, or poison, or whatever it is Lilia is using to sedate her opponents, could be put into a ring?”

“A ring?”

“Yes. Lilia wears one on her right hand. I was close for her fight with Georgie. When they shook hands, Georgie reacted, but then I guess it was already too late.”

Alaric considered my words for a moment, his arms tightening around me.

“Yes,” he said tightly. “Depending on the ring and the poison… Do you remember in the woods when we were attacked, and how a paralyzing poison was used on me?”

My stomach dropped at once, recalling that. We’d wanted to tie the attack to Lilia and the commissioner, but at the time we could only connect it to Melinda and the elders. But if they truly had been plotting together all this time…

Could Lilia be using that same paralyzing poison now?

“It would only take a small prick and a single drop to bring a person down,” Alaric said. “With only a prick and a drop, it would take longer for the poison to circulate, which could be why they didn’t fall right away as I did. But eventually, before the two minutes was up, the poison won out.”

He pulled back from me a little, enough to grab me urgently by the shoulders and look me in the eye. “You cannot shake her hand, Cara.”

But I had to. That was part of the rules, and I’d be disqualified for breaking them.

“We have to get rid of that ring,” I said instead.