Chapter 56 Chapter 56
THIRD PERSON POV
Dahlia stood rigidly in her room, as she remembered how her cheeks throbbed from the slap she received but the sting was nothing compared to the humiliation she faced. Her hand grazed the faint red mark on her skin. The mark had almost disappeared now.
She slapped me.
That rogue girl who should never have the audacity to stand before her dared raised her hand. Dahlia's nails dug into her palm. It wasn't just the slap that set her blood boiling, it was the way everyone acted.
The shocked gasps and whispers.
The shift in their eyes when they looked at Ailsa, like she was worth something or she was someone they should fear. But the one that made her boil even more was Lucian.
She closed her eyes, remembering the way he had scolded her in front of everyone and he had even threatened to demote her, that was something he hadn't done before and it was all because of witch, Ailsa.
She clenched her jaw so hard it began to hurt.
Lucian had become a different person since that Ailsa came here, he only had a soft look in his eyes whenever he was watching Ailsa and he had never looked at her in that way, never with soft eyes. Not even once.
Before Ailsa had arrived, Lucian's attention had solely been on her. They had done everything together. They had trained together, sometimes sparred together. She had been the only one with the privilege to spend a night with the alpha and she was all that mattered to him. Even when his mate had left him, she was there to comfort him but everything changed since the rogue girl came. From the first day she saw her, she knew she would be a problem to her and she had hated the sight of her since then.
Dahlia paced the room, fury coursing through her veins. Lucian barely glanced at her now, he didn’t even want to see her and he had defended the rogue openly, thereby making everybody know that he had a relationship with her. He was marking his territory.
She heard people whisper after that day about Ailsa's strength and her relationship with the Alpha. They were singing praises about how her achievements and all she had been doing.
Her relationship with the Alpha.
The thought alone made Dahlia's stomach twist painfully.
"I'm the one who is supposed to be Luna" She hissed under her breath.
She suspected that Ailsa was Lucian’s mate but it was not yet confirmed but that shouldn't have happened. If Lucian was to have another mate, it should have been her. She had waited for him to get over his hurt before and she was there by his side. She refused to stand by and watch another woman take him from her.
"I'm the one who trained for years to be a Luna. I'm the one that's supposed to be his mate and not an outsider. I would go everything I can to make sure he doesn’t end up with that girl” Her reflection glared back at her, her eyes sharp and sinister.
She wanted to go back to the it was just her and Lucian, when she had his full attention. Life was much better then because she could get away with anything. But now all he could think about was Ailsa. Even know she was sure he was with Ailsa.
Ailsa. Ailsa. Ailsa.
Oh, how she hated that name.
She had caught Lucian watching Ailsa severally and she despised it, she didn’t want him looking at anyone else except her. Ailsa didn’t deserve his attention at all. The pack would soon start seeing her as Luna and they'll accord her all the respect they were supposed to give to her and Dahlia could not let that happen. Her fingers tapped on her vanity as she tried to think of what she could do since her other attempts hadn’t worked. She remembered what she had done.
Her first attempt to discard Ailsa, she had paid a servant and a guard heavily to carry out the work but they had failed miserably at it. Ailsa survived it after they assured her that they were capable. Dahlia was lucky nothing was traced back to her, the servant was not caught. She had wanted the first to have looked like an accident.
“She ruined everything for me” her fist slammed heavily against the vanity.
Dahlia also remembered when she met a council elder and told him everything about Ailsa’s mark and the danger it could bring to the pack. She had instilled fear in him so that he would bring it to the others. He wanted them to convince Lucian to send Ailsa away but Lucian didn't listen to them. Coincidentally, those two events happened on the same day. Nothing worked in her favour, not one was successful.
"What does she possess that I don't have?" Dahlia muttered out loudly.
She believed herself better than Ailsa in every way, she was taller than her. She was also stronger than Ailsa and was more beautiful than her. Ailsa was too plain in her opinion and she didn’t see why Lucian wanted her still.
“I wonder what Lucian even sees in her. It can not just be because of the bond”
She knew Lucian hated the mate bond after what happened with his first mate. She squeezed her eyes trying to remove the image of Ailsa from her head. She got angry anytime she thought of her.
Today, she had gotten the best news in a long time. Sheheard about the rogue attack on Ailsa's life. She was happy hearing that Ailsa was in critical condition. She didn't want to rejoice too early until she got confirmation that Ailsa did not survive it.
Dahlia wished she could do something immediately so that she never wakes up but she knew how risky it is, if she tried anything by herself. She paced the room furiously. An opportunity had come for her to strike.
"Ailsa would pay for what she had done"She whispered.
A knock sounded at her door. She looked at the door. The knock came again, two short taps. A signal. She composed herself, smoothing her hair and straightening her expression before crossing the room and unlocking the door.
A man slipped inside, he covered his face with a hood. He was the man who had been helping her and he wasn't from the pack. He had been the one who supplied her with poison. He had told her that the poison would kill any wolf quickly because it was coated with silver but that didn't happen and that was why she had called him because she had no patience left. She closed the door behind him.
"You are late" She snapped.
"You said to always come at night. I had to wait till it got dark a little so I wouldn't be seen" The man shrugged. Dahlia glared at him, then folded her arms.
"I need your help again" He lifted his head slightly.
"Still with that same girl?" Dahlia's jaw tightened.
"Yes" The man chuckled under breath.
“She’s a strong one, isn't she? She survived something as powerful as that poison. She might be no ordinary person" the man suggested
"That's exactly why I want her gone" Dahlia hissed.
"For good this time, I want her to vanish. No mistakes"
"I never make mistakes. What do you want me to do?"
"This time, I don’t want to just kill her, I want to humiliate her like she did to me. I want strong evidence against her, something that would bring her to her knees. I want the Alpha to have no other option than to throw her out. And when he does throw her out, then we can kill her so she won't ever return back" A cruel smirk spread across Dahlia's lips.
"Do you want to set her up? Or you have another plan? We don't know anything about her, it'll be hard to get rid of her that way. The only way is if you know something about her past”
Her past.
The word rang in Dahlia’s mind and she remembered when she had threatened Ailsa with her past. She had seen the scared look in her eyes and she knew Ailsa was hiding something. Then, she was merely threatening her, she just wanted a reaction from her.
“You are smart. Keep watching her, maybe you would find something about her past”
“That’s why I know that killing her right now would not be easy. She’s always with that servant girl and the Alpha secretly has someone following her”
“We won’t attack her yet until when we’ve successfully thrown her out of this pack” her voice dropped to a malicious whisper.
“So there’ll be no staging this time?” The man raised his eyebrow.
“No, I want to try another means since poisoning and attacking didn’t work” she stepped closer to him.
“And when she’s been disposed, Lucian would have no one else to run to but me” she laughed wickedly and the man followed her. He turned to leave and he stopped at the door.
“One more thing”
“What?” She asked with no patience.
“Why don’t we set her up? I know someone who can help you achieve your goal. You want the alpha right?” She nodded quickly.
“I want the Alpha all to myself”
“I know someone who can help you” her eyes glimmered with mischief.
“I want to meet up with this person. We would work together and get what we want”