Chapter 251

Alaric’s POV

There was no way in hell we were going to let the head commissioner get away with accusing Cara like that, so before he could start throwing his weight around too much, Eamon, Noel, and I rushed forward toward the ring.

We’d already been on our way. Noel had finally returned, and what he’d brought us was a perfect gift. After seeing that Cara could handle herself with the gloves, and trusting her skills to win against Lilia, we had been willing to wait until after the match to reveal our hand.

Now that the head commissioner was ready to make a scene, we moved quickly to stop him.

As we neared the ring, I could see how angry Cara was, her mouth slack and her brows drawn together. She looked equal parts annoyed and flabbergasted at the head commissioner’s continued insistence that she had somehow cheated, when the proof so clearly pointed in the opposite.

The commissioner continued, even as Eamon, Noel, and I stepped into the ring.

“Cara had given Lilia that ring as a present,” the head commissioner said. “Lilia told me about it herself.”

“I did no such thing,” Cara insisted.

The head commissioner pointed an accusatory finger at Cara. “You told her it was under the guise of forgiveness. Truthfully, you’d been setting her up this whole time!”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Cara shouted, even after I came to her side and wrapped my arm around her.

“It’s going to be okay,” I told her.

She looked at me, but I nodded toward Eamon, who had taken center stage.

“You, head commissioner, are a liar,” Eamon said.

“Here is the Alpha of the Bloodymoon pack,” the head commissioner said, spreading wide his arms. “Once again attempting to threaten and intimidate the commission. If you hated this competition so much, Alpha Eamon, then you never should have agreed to let us have our contest here.”

“I do not hate the competition,” he said. “What I hate are cheaters. And you have thrown in your lot with Lilia, and helped her to overcome the odds by cheating in the most grotesque of ways.”

“Watch your tongue,” the head commissioner said, growling.

“And you watch yours,” Noel said, his voice low and dangerous. “We’ve already given our evidence to an impartial judge, but I will make the gist of it clear for you. We know you bought the paralyzing poison that has been used here today. The same stock that was used on the attack of Alpha Alaric a few days ago.”

“Outrageous! You can’t accuse me of that!” the head commissioner said, even as he paled.

“We are simply waiting to hear back from our friends at the hospital,” Eamon said. “But I imagine they will tell us that the samples they have taken from the unconscious girls all match the same poison that you purchased and that you helped coat onto Lilia’s ring. The ring she used to hinder her opponents, making her fights impossible to lose!”

The crowd around us had started to turn on the head commissioner now, their faces skewed in anger. Even the other members of the commission were backing away from him, no longer willing to signal their support for him.

“It really matches the poison that was used on you?” Cara asked me.

“It does,” I assured her. “The head commissioner has had his hands dirty from the beginning.” Louder, I called to him, “Why did you do it, commissioner? What did you hope to gain?”

“It was what he couldn’t lose,” Noel said. “This wasn’t the first time he’d used this poison on someone. I also uncovered evidence that he used a similar method to send his predecessor to his death.”

The head commissioner looked around frantically now, as if searching for a supporter in the crowd. The only one who might have backed him up was Lilia, but she was still on the ground, the paramedics attending to her now.

“Things are over for you, head commissioner,” Eamon said, and signaled for his guards to come closer and take the head commissioner into custody.

The crowd jeered the commissioner, shouting insults, and booing at him as he was taken away.

Once he was gone, the crowd looked back at Cara, Eamon, Noel, and I on the stage.

Quietly at first, and then with a rise in volume and participation, a chant began, with the people shouting, “Cara! Cara! Cara!”

Cara seemed overwhelmed, looking around in awe of those chanting her name in loud unison. It seemed as if the entire stadium was in agreement of her.

When she lifted her hand, acknowledging the crowd, they went absolutely wild for her.

Pride filled me up. Eamon and Noel must have felt the same, because their expressions partially mirrored my own.

Technically, Cara didn’t win the whole of the contest. No one would now, as it seemed indefinitely if not permanently halted, yet with how the crowd was cheering for her, it seemed as if she had won the whole thing. Even the other contenders were applauding her and cheering her own.

“I knew she was cheating!” one of them shouted.

“You proved it, Cara!” called another.

Eventually, the crowd started to disperse, the event over. Yet a small crowd remained around Cara, asking her questions. Reporters pushed through, eager for interviews of her and of Eamon. Noel, at some point in the excitement, had managed to slip away.

I wondered if we would ever see him again. I hoped, for Cara’s sake, we would. They had become dear friends.

For now though, after taking Cara’s hand and leading her away from the stadium, we made a quick stop at the hospital to see her friends, who were all recovering nicely, before heading back home.

Colin assured us the kids hadn’t watched the match, but Mia and Ethan still acted as though they knew Cara was the champion. They hugged her at once and said, “Good job, Mom!”

Cara blushed a little. “You guys don’t even know what happened.”

“You won, of course,” Ethan said, like that was obvious fact. “What else could have happened?”

Later, after the kids went to bed, Cara and I held each other in the dark of our bedroom. Eamon had earlier called to tell us that the head commissioner was in jail. Lilia soon would be, after she woke up in the hospital and was given the all clear health wise.

With such good news, with everything resolved, it felt as if all the negative energy around us was finally dissipating.

Cara had Lucy back. Her life was no longer in danger. She was well loved by her pack.

The only obstacle left for our happiness was to figure out how the two of us could be together forever.

I still had some plans to see through. Until those came together, I couldn’t tell her the full length of what I envisioned for our future. But what I could tell her… What I could promise…

“Cara, I’m going to make you happy for the rest of my life.”

She pushed herself up on one elbow to look down at me. In her eyes, I saw my own love reflecting back at me.

“I’m happy now,” she said. “You don’t have to do anything.”

I couldn’t help but grin. She had no idea what I had planned.

“My love,” I told her. “This is just the beginning…”