Chapter 23
Cara’s POV
I scoffed at her first question. I can already tell that Paxton had passed his version of events onto her, and she believed him for whatever reason. I was glad that Jaxon and his family were on our side. I wanted Alexei to come back. I missed him. He made me feel calm and safe. This woman is making me upset. She just heard Chase say she wouldn’t be allowed to pack us up and ship us back there. Yet she didn’t listen to what he said. I highly doubt that she will be willing to listen to anything we say either. She was going to try to do what she wanted. I wondered how he got to her. Did he pay her off or offer to sleep with her? Those were his most used options.
“First off, my name is Cara Sims. No one here in this pack hurt me. I was hurt attempting to leave the Kamaria Pack. I would also like to make a formal complaint against them. My injury almost killed me, and I want that noted. I will not be going back there. Besides, I am not even a wolf. Can you not sense that? I am a hybrid, but I never got my wolf. I am only a witch, and the Council has no authority over me. They hated me in my former pack. I refuse to go back there to be bullied and abused by them anymore. I won’t do it, and since I am not a werewolf, you can’t force me to,” I told her.
“I am just trying to get information, Cara. I wasn’t trying to offend you,” she snapped back.
“Yes, you were Michela. You were talking down to me like I was stupid. I know that you were already taking Paxton’s word as truth before you even got here. The problem is both he and his men did not tell you the truth. Do you know why he wants to force me to go back? He wants me to give birth to his pups. He wants to use me and force me to bear his children. I don’t want to do that at all. If I never see Paxton again, I would be fine with it. He knows that I will do nothing but suffer if I go back. I will suffer at the hands of his chosen mate, Lisa. She already hates me, and she will not stop until I am dead. So stop pretending that you are here for us. You aren’t. You are here for him; I don’t know how he got to you. Aren’t the people who work for the Council Members supposed to be impartial?” I asked. I watched her flush with embarrassment before she fired back.
“I am impartial. I need to have you three answer some questions. I haven’t forced any of you to do anything. It seems suspicious that you arrived here and were immediately taken to surgery,” Micheal fired back.
“I could not stand up when I arrived, so I was taken to the Pack Hospital. I am done answering questions now. I will have you speak to my doctor. Can anyone mind-link him for me, please? I don’t want to speak to her anymore. She is not listening to my answers anyway. She needs to learn to listen first to hear what happened and what I had to deal with,” I asked.
We all waited for Doctor Hill to show up. He explained what had happened to Micheal. He also gave a timeline of when it happened and how serious the injury actually was. She listened and took notes before saying, “Was anyone else there when this alleged incident happened?”
She clearly didn’t believe me, but I couldn’t care less. I wasn’t going to tell her anything else. I heard Chase say that actual Council Members were heading this way. I would wait and speak to them. I was worried that anything we said would be relayed back to Paxton. I didn’t trust this she-wolf at all.
“And you are?” Michela asked as she looked at Brenna.
“Cara’s sister, Brenna,” Brenna replied.
“Do you know when your sister was hurt?” Michela asked her in a sarcastic tone.
“Yes, I was there when it happened,” Brenna replied in the same tone.
“Can you tell me what happened?” Michela responded with an eye roll.
How is she working for the Council with an attitude like that? She only asked if Brenna knew when I got hurt. She hadn’t asked what happened yet. This woman has an agenda, but we will not be playing along with her. I felt Brenna squeeze my hand, and I relaxed. Brenna will deal with her. I laid back on my bed and shut my eyes. I willed myself to calm down, despite how annoying that Michela woman’s voice is to me.
“Cara had gone into our home to get the paperwork and cash that our parents left for us. Our father was the former Beta for the Kamaria pack. Our parents were suddenly killed in an accident, and we were kicked out of our home with no time to get all of our belongings. The replacement Beta arrived at the pack twelve hours after we were notified of our parent's deaths. We were getting what belonged to us, that our parents left for us before we left the pack,” Brenna replied.
“That is not what I was told. I was told that Cara had broken into the Beta’s home to steal his belongings. So you are alleging that your father was the Beta before Clayton was assigned the post? That none of you took anything that belonged to Beta Clayton?” Michela asked.
“It is a matter of record that our father was the Beta there, not an allegation. Did you even take the time to check out who we were? It would be a small matter to look into the submitted list for the Kamaria pack. Let me guess: you literally jumped at the chance to come here. So you probably have a crush on Paxton of Jaxon. I will guess Jaxon, as Paxton lives in northern California, not anywhere around here. If you will not listen or look into what we have told you. Why do we need to answer your questions? You seem to have solved the case with the lies that Paxton told you. I think it would be best to wait until the actual Council Members arrive. I don’t like to repeat myself or be accused of lying by someone who didn’t care enough actually to look into our background before your investigation. Especially something so easy to find out. I think we are at a stalemate now,” Brenna stated.
“I’m sorry, but you don’t get to decide that. I’m afraid that you don’t have a choice here. I am here to investigate, and you will answer my questions. Now, I was told that you ran from your last pack. I am here to determine if the reason you ran away was a valid one. Your Alpha and his ranked members are here to take you three back home. They are all concerned for your well-being. Your Alpha cares about you all very much; he even cried with how worried he is about you three. It seems as if you are all being deliberately obtuse in this. I am sure you understand why I am here. I am a representative from the Werewolf Council. Please show me my due respect,” Michela replied.
“I agree with Brenna. We can wait to do this so they don’t have to repeat themselves. Based on how Jaxon spoke, I am sure the Council Members will arrive very soon. You are not listening to them at all. You didn't listen to Jaxon when he told you at the gate that she was not injured here. You already have a narrative that you have already chosen to believe. You are not investigating anything. You are here to force these women to return to a pack they ran away from. Why wasn't your first question asking them why they left their old pack? Or even asking what happened to them there? I can clearly see they do not want to return to Kamaria. It is my understanding that this is all a moot point. They are not going back. You need to go grab a coffee or something and calm down. This is not a trial, and you are not in charge here,” Chase told her.
“Due respect? To you? Why? You have been nothing but disrespectful to me and my sisters since you entered the room. You didn’t give me any respect, so don’t hold your breath waiting for me to give you any. You look at us and see three rogue she-wolves, and you were wrong then, too. You assumed Cara was a wolf because that is what Paxton told you. He told you that so you would lump us all together and hand us over. But did you ever ask yourself why he wants us back so badly? I know the answer, but I will not give it to you. You didn’t come here looking to help us. You just wanted to help Paxton. Better yet, you wanted to get close to Jaxon, and this was the perfect way. It allowed you to enter his pack and speak to him. Oh, sorry, did I touch a nerve there? Are you getting angry at me now?” Brenna told her.
“How dare you speak to me that way. I am a member of the Council. I am in charge here at the moment. I will take you three down to the gate if I want to. Who is going to stop me? Those men out there are claiming you and your sister as their chosen mates. Paxton wants Cara to be safe and with her sisters. He doesn’t want to separate your family,” Michela fired back, but her face was red and angry.
“Well, you are about to be really disappointed. Two of us have already found our mates here. My sister Luna has one, too, and he is headed here now. So you can ask questions until you are blue in the face, but none of us will answer any more of them until the actual Council Members arrive. I know for a fact that you can’t force mated women to accept a chosen mate. You work at the Council. You should already know that law,” Brenna told her. I smiled at how bold she was being. This was my sister, and I was glad that she didn’t have to hold back who she was anymore.
“You disgusting whore. You were just with Rex, and now you found someone new? How can you be that low? He loves you so much. Yet you betrayed him,” Michela snapped out and stepped forward to go after Brenna. Raven and Sasha moved very quickly to stand between Michela and Brenna.
“You need to think before you attempt to put your hands on Brenna. We won’t allow it,” Raven told her. Gone was the kind and sweet women from before. In her place stood a warrior with no qualms about hurting Michela if she insisted on coming after Brenna. Sasha wore the same expression. The door slammed open, and a man rushed into the room. Searching around the room until his eyes locked with my sister, Luna.