Chapter 26
Eamon's POV
“I just can’t believe… Cara, this whole time…”
“She wasn’t a low - born at all.”
“Not just that, but a princess!”
I watch the scene unfold as the Pack DarkWood elders and nobles take in the news I’ve just delivered about Cara and Lilia. Their faces are full of regret, full of shame.
During the investigation into Cara’s background, my Beta found story after story of Cara being bullied for her orphan status.
She never deserved any of that. No low - born does.
It’s a testament to her work ethic and grit that she ever rose to the Beta position. Lesser she - wolves would’ve hidden themselves away for fear of ridicule.
But not my sister. She’s an Auburn through - and - through.
In truth, I don’t know her all that well, we’ve only just met. But after reading her file, after seeing what she’s capable of… Well, as a brother, I couldn’t be prouder.
The mob has turned on Lilia now.
“But HER! She tried to kill Cara! She used us!”
“Well, she’ll be a rogue now! What pack would take her in?”
“None that I know of!”
They’re inching closer to her with every comment. And getting angrier.
“Get away from me, you useless lunatics!!” Lilia cries as they approach.
“Murderous rogue!! Murderous rogue!!”
They’re chanting in unison now.
Part of me does feel something for Lilia. After all, we were raised together as family. For the vast majority of my life, she has been my sister.
But I can’t pretend we were ever close. I was always under my father’s wing, training to be the next Alpha King. It left little time for much else.
And Lilia has always been Lilia. Always self - centered, always vicious. Always looking for a way to get herself ahead at the expense of someone else.
If a small part of me feels sorry for her now, then most of me feels like she’s finally getting what she deserves. What she’s brought upon herself, by her own actions.
“...BITCH, CARA! She's the one who stole my life! I WILL become a Luna! I WILL HAVE POWER!!!” Lilia screams as she backs up away from the crowd.
Her face is beet red, her eyes red too, and she’s got the shimmer around her like she’s about to shift. But she can’t shift now, she can’t engage this many wolves in a fight against one. It’d be suicide.
Her eyes are darting around before landing on a backdoor just behind the altar.
“This isn’t the end of me...!! ”
She growls loudly, menacingly, at the crowd one last time before racing out through the backdoor.
The crowd of DarkWood nobles cheers when she’s gone.
In the edge of my view, I see Alaric moving towards the main entrance. I whistle a signal to my brothers, who have been watching from the sidelines, to follow him. We can’t let him go to the hospital.
Not yet.
Ryan and Colin step in front of the doors just before Alaric gets there. They cross their arms over their chests, a clear message that Alaric won’t be getting through.
“Alaric, wait.” I say to him as I make my way over.
“More grand revelations you need to make?” He grunts at me. “Look, Eamon, I don’t have time for this. I need to get—” He moves to push my brothers aside.
I grab his arm and interrupt him, “I know,” I give him a hard look. “And you will… IF you agree to our conditions.”
Alaric raises his eyebrow at me and a low growl rumbles in his throat as he looks down at where I’m holding him back.
It’s a risk to touch him like this. He might shift now and try to rip out my throat, but he wouldn’t last a second. Not with me and four of my brothers surrounding him.
This thought seems to occur to him as well, and he stops growling. But his eyes keep going back to the door, keep searching for a way to slip by.
“What do you want?!” Alaric says, voice strained.
Ruby's POV
I need a fucking break.
Cara’s surgery took longer than expected. Way longer.
If I would’ve known… I never could’ve predicted…
I never should have helped her with that stupid plan. The stupid plan that almost got her killed.
The chief of surgery barely let me participate.
“It’s a conflict of interest, Ruby,” he had said to me when I tried to take part in the operation. “You can’t think straight, you have too close of a relationship to the patient to be rational.”
I knew he was probably right, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try. So I tucked myself in the back of the surgical suite to watch. Right next to another observer.
Richard Auburn.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him angrily.
And he is Lilia’s brother, and that’s enough reason for me not to trust him. I wanted to punch him right then and there, but I didn’t want to miss Cara’s surgery. I couldn’t leave her like this…
“Come to sabotage the surgery?! Kill her once and for all! You fucking Auburns disgust me!” I let him have it.
Every ounce of helpless and frustration that I felt from having to watch my best friend this close to death, I unleashed it on Richard.
“...I, I’m sorry.” Richard said remorsefully, eyes not leaving Cara’s body on the operating table，“And, and, I have a news to tell you.”
“What news?!” I asked.
The tale he told left my head spinning. Cara was the long lost BloodyMoon princess?! Lilia was a bastard child with the nanny?!
So, I took deep breaths, I tried visualizing happy thoughts, I did everything I could think of to keep myself calm.
Cara's injuries were bad. Not fatal, she would live, thank goodness. But it would be a long road to recovery.
I don’t know what will happen when Cara wakes from her coma, but I do know one thing: I’ll be by her side through it all.
I waited nervously at the hospital, the silence so heavy it was almost suffocating. Until I hear a deep male voice say behind me.
“And you promise to agree?”
The tallest red - head says. That must be Eamon, the Alpha King of BloodyMoon.
“...I said 'NO'！Eamon, she's my fate mate!”
“Not fate mate, Just ex-mate.” Eamon said coldly.
“But the child her miscarried is mine!”
That voice is Alaric. A very upset Alaric.
I see Alaric standing next to the entrance doors with a group of men, red-headed men. Must be the rest of the Auburns.
It looks like a heated exchange.
The whole pack is aware that our Alpha King Alaric is wise and calm; we've never witnessed him in such a state of intense turmoil.
I turn my head, trying to be discreet. I have a feeling that if they see me eavesdropping, I’ll miss my chance to hear more.
The air returns to silence.
Eamon firmly intervenes, stopping Alaric, “You should know better; seeing you will only break her heart.”
“...I, I just want to make sure she's still alive...... ”Alaric said tremulously.
A suffocating silence.
After a silence, Alaric said painfully, “...Alright, I agree.”
“Tell me. Repeat it back to me, then you can go.”
“...In the name of Alpha King of Darkwood Pack, I consent to Cara's departure from my domain.”
Alaric says the words through gritted teeth, as if it’s causing him great pains to speak.
“I will not talk to Cara. She will not see me. And I will never see her again. This is my promise, in exchange for the promise of seeing her.”
I saw Eamon give a slight nod, the red-headed men all move aside and Alaric storms into the hospital.
It's my first time seeing him so nervously like this.
I couldn't comprehend what I'd seen. My eyes followed Alaric's hasty figure, a silent prayer for my closest friend echoing in my heart.
CARA...
Godness, please...
