Chapter 198
Elowen's POV
The words should have hurt. Once upon a time, they would have destroyed me. But now, with Casper on one side and Cassian on the other, with Ronan standing between me and this woman who'd made my life hell for years...
Now, I felt something else entirely.
Power.
Sarah's cheeks flushed red, but she held her ground, turning her attention to Ronan with a predatory smile. "And you are...?" She drew out the words, her voice dropping to what she probably thought was a seductive purr. She straightened her spine, pushing her chest out in a move so blatant it would've been funny if it weren't so pathetic.
Her green eyes raked over Ronan's form with obvious interest, taking in his bronze skin, his powerful build, the dangerous energy that radiated from him. I saw the calculation in her gaze, the wheels turning as she sized him up as potential prey.
I waited for it—that moment when Ronan's eyes would glaze over, when he'd get that stupid, slack-jawed look that so many men got around Sarah. I'd seen it a thousand times. Hell, I'd watched Drake fall for her manipulations more times than I could count.
But Ronan...
Ronan didn't even glance her way.
Instead, he stepped forward, positioning himself squarely between Sarah and me. His broad shoulders blocked her from view, and when he spoke, his voice rang with unmistakable pride and possession.
"I'm her brother," he declared, and the words carried weight, authority, finality.
Sarah's mouth fell open in shock, her carefully crafted seductive expression crumbling. "Her... brother?" she repeated, as if the words made no sense.
"That's right." Ronan took another step forward, forcing Sarah to retreat. His emerald eyes, which had been so warm when looking at me, turned cold and hard as they finally landed on her. "And if you so much as look at her again, I'll make you regret showing up here tonight."
The temperature in the hallway seemed to drop ten degrees. Ronan's presence expanded, filling the space with an Alpha power that made the air thick and hard to breathe. This wasn't just dominance—this was something primal, something that made every instinct in my body scream danger.
Sarah stumbled back a step, her shoulder hitting the wall. "You—you know who I am, right?" Her voice wavered, losing that confident edge. "I'm Casper's ex-girlfriend!"
The laugh that burst from Casper was sharp and cruel. "Ex-girlfriend?" He moved to stand beside Ronan, forming a united front. "Sarah, you're giving yourself way too much credit. You were barely a fuck buddy, and a disappointing one at that."
Through the bond, I felt his wolf Leo stirring, eager for this confrontation. Casper's amber eyes gleamed with malicious glee as he continued, "Besides, even when you were warming my bed, you were never important enough to meet my standards. Certainly not important enough to disrespect my mate."
Sarah's face cycled through several shades of red. "That's not—I didn't—"
But Ronan wasn't done. He leaned in close, close enough that Sarah flinched away, pressing harder against the wall. His voice dropped to a low, dangerous rumble that somehow carried perfectly in the enclosed space.
"You want to know what I see when I look at you?" His lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile. "Cheap perfume and cheaper tactics. A woman who spreads her legs in back rooms and thinks that makes her powerful." He paused, letting the words sink in. "You work as a bartender at Casper's club and dress like a stripper. You think that gives you status?"
"I—" Sarah started, but Ronan cut her off with a sharp gesture.
"But you know what the really pathetic part is?" He straightened up, his expression shifting to something almost pitying. "You don't even charge. At least prostitutes have the self-respect to get paid for their services. You? You give it away for free and call it strategy."
Cassian chose that moment to step forward, flanking Ronan's other side. The three of them—Ronan, Casper, and Cassian—formed an intimidating wall of male dominance that would have terrified anyone with a functioning sense of self-preservation.
"Basically," Cassian said, his voice carrying that deadly calm that was somehow more frightening than Casper's open aggression, "you're a voluntary plaything. And not even an entertaining one."
Ronan's grin widened, sharp and vicious. "You know, I should introduce you to Kade. He's been looking for a good joke lately."
Through the bond, I felt the dark satisfaction rolling off both Casper and Cassian. They were enjoying this—not just the verbal destruction of someone who'd hurt me, but the synchronicity of it. The way they all moved together, backed each other up without needing to discuss strategy.
And despite everything—despite the ugliness of the situation and my lingering discomfort with violence—I felt my lips curve into a small smile.
Because this... this was what family felt like. This was what it meant to have people who would go to war for you, who would tear down anyone who dared to hurt you, who would stand between you and the world without being asked.
This is how it should have always been, Juno said softly, and I couldn't disagree.
Sarah's face had gone from red to white, her breathing rapid and shallow. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides, trembling with what looked like rage and humiliation mixed together.
"You're all disgusting," she spat, but there was no real venom in it. Just desperation. "Ganging up on me like this. You're supposed to be Alphas, and you're acting like—"
"Like what?" Ronan interrupted, his tone deceptively mild. "Like people who protect their own? Yeah, guilty as charged."