Chapter 366 The scheming shewolf

“Nobody is going to believe the words of a whore.”

“You bet they will when I have you recorded on my phone.” Viola held up her phone screen to show the recording she had been using to capture the horses, right up until they had stumbled into this stall and found Kim.

She watched the girl’s face paled in horror at the sight of the recording screen.

“Daddy will kill Liza! You can’t let him know.” Kim said in outright terror, the scared girl behind her trembling and with no power to back her up. Every trace of smugness had been replaced with pure panic now as she realized the wolfless had something that could make her father more furious with her than he ever was.

“He doesn’t have to know, if you tell me what all this is about that I’ve been hearing.” Viola said calmly.

She had no real intentions of showing the video to anyone and would delete it the moment the girl talked. Though she already suspected where the rumors had started, she needed to confirm it.

“It was Hailey. She told everyone at breakfast that she caught you fucking one of our male omegas in the room. I didn’t start the rumors.” Kim said desperately, her eyes fixed on Viola’s phone.

Viola let out a quiet sigh and deleted the video, which hadn’t captured Kim anyway, only the horses, and said, “That wasn’t so hard, was it? Your sister is really something, isn’t she? I was in the room with my husband, and she twisted it to fit her own narrative.”

“Hailey. Of course it had to be that bitch.” Laila said with a roll of her eyes. Before Viola had come into the picture, Hailey had been one of her own rivals for the Supreme Alpha’s attention, so it was absolutely no surprise the she-wolf was pulling tricks on Viola at the first opportunity.

“Please don’t tell anyone I was here with Liza. Her mother is sick, and Daddy won’t hesitate to get rid of them both if he finds out. I promised to protect her,” Kim pleaded. “You have a fight with Hailey, not me. I’ll stay out of your way.”

One would think Kim was rebellious and smart-mouthed, but deep down she acted that way so she wouldn’t be bullied for being her father’s unwanted daughter, and now she had done it to protect Liza.

“I am not going to rat on you. Your secret is safe with me.” Viola said, her mind already turning toward Hailey’s scheme.

After everything she had shown the she-wolf last night, made it crystal clear where she stood, rather than accept defeat, Hailey had turned around and spread rumors to make Viola look like an unfaithful wife in front of the very people she needed to win over. No wonder the guests had been giving her dirty looks all morning.

Kim looked at Viola with open distrust. Her sister always promised not to rat on her and then did exactly that. She had no real reason to trust this wolfless, whom she had never actually had a problem with personally, but had wanted to be sassy and arrogant toward to impress Hailey. And now look where trying to impress Hailey had gotten her.

“If you promise not to rat on me, Luna, I will tell you what Hailey is planning for the day of Kenny and Tess’s ceremony.” Kim said, her expression shifting into something almost pitiful.

“Now isn’t this getting interesting, what is your bitchy sister planning?” Laila asked immediately, already looking for any opportunity to get back at Hailey. If she had something in the works, it would feel very good to throw it right back in her face.

“I am not talking to you, Miss Serrano. I am talking to the Supreme Luna,” Kim grumbled, making it very clear that she didn’t want this busybody involved because, from the looks of it, Laila would rough her sister up, especially since she had an Alpha wolf.

Laila opened her mouth to respond but Viola spoke first. “I already gave you my word and I don’t go back on it.” She looked at Kim steadily. “And you and Liza… I can see you care about each other. I want you to know I am not the kind of person who stands against love regardless of rank. But for her sake, be more careful next time. Now, what is Hailey planning?” Viola said, meaning every single word she had said to the girl.

Kim felt something shift in how she saw the wolfless, in a way that was completely at odds with what Hailey had spent so much time telling everyone. She shrugged and told Viola everything her sister was planning, in a flat, offhanded tone, like she had already decided Hailey deserved whatever came her way, for as long as they wouldn’t rat on her to her father.

“Hermano is going to kill her if he finds out.” Zoe remarked as they left Kim and her girlfriend behind in the stall, all plans to ride the horses abandoned after hearing everything Hailey had put in motion for tomorrow’s ceremony.

“What are you going to do about this, Luna Viola?” Tess asked, still visibly unsettled, this kind of scheming and scandal was a long way from anything she had grown up around in Arizona.

“I say we confront her directly and put her in her place.” Laila said, already warming to the idea. “She-wolves like that don’t stop unless they are physically taught a lesson and shown that the territory is marked. You mark your territory.”

She was genuinely ready, if given the green light, to shift and take Hailey on in wolf form, it wasn’t unheard of among she-wolves, and it had been a while since Laila had had a fight in her wolf form. This felt like a perfectly reasonable occasion to unleash some steam.

Viola, however, did not see that as an option, not here, not in Hailey’s father’s own pack territory, not when Sebastian had been so careful to avoid anything that might tip into open conflict with the Grims and force them into using their abilities. It would be completely reckless to fight Hailey physically.

“That is not a good idea,” Viola said, and Zoe nodded in immediate agreement. “No fighting. We could all get into big trouble if it turned into a pack battle because we challenged their daughter to a fight, and my brother would have to pay the price for it.”

“Then what is your plan?” Laila pressed. “Don’t tell me you are going to let her come after your man like that. Remember she is one of his fated mates, she has a real chance of succeeding in her stupid little plan if you give her room to breathe. You need a strong leash on this and you need to make sure she cannot get within smelling distance of your husband.”

To Laila, she didn’t know that Viola was among Sebastian’s mates, and so she believed that Hailey had a good chance of succeeding in her plans at the ceremony.

However, Viola had let jealousy drive her last night, and while it had worked, she didn’t want that to become her default response to everything. She had faith in her husband. If he had been able to turn away from Laila, she had to believe he would do the same with Hailey. She wasn’t going to let fear make her decisions for her this time.

“There’s no point in doing anything about Hailey.” She said simply. “Let her go ahead and do whatever she wants to. My Alpha is not that easily swayed.” She paused and then smiled. “Why am I suddenly craving chocolate? Who’s in? Tomorrow is Tess’s big day, we shouldn’t spend today scheming. Let’s focus on getting her ready and excited for her marking.” She said cheerfully, steering all of them firmly in a different direction.

Laila watched her with pursed lips. If she were in Viola’s position, she would never allow any woman to sit around making plans for her man. In fact, Laila was fairly certain she would rip the face off any she-wolf who so much as looked at Gilbert the wrong way, because her mate possessiveness was already surging through her in ways she hadn’t expected and could barely contain.

She couldn’t wait to see Gilbert at tomorrow’s ceremony and catch him completely off guard, somewhere he wouldn’t be able to simply turn and walk away from her.