Chapter 274
## Alaric's POV
"She parks like she's trying to commit vehicular manslaughter," I said to no one in particular, shaking my head as I made my way toward where Elowen was currently arguing with a massive bouncer.
"I need to get in there," she was saying, her voice taking on that dangerous edge I'd learned to recognize. "My—"
"No can do, miss," the bouncer—Dylan, according to his name tag—cut her off firmly. "There's trouble inside. Not safe for someone in your condition."
"If you don't let me in to see my—"
"Hey, Dylan," I called out, stepping up beside Elowen and flashing the bouncer my most charming smile.
Dylan's eyes widened with recognition, his entire demeanor shifting from obstinate to obsequious in the span of a heartbeat. "Mr. Alaric! I didn't realize— Are you two together?" His gaze dropped pointedly to Elowen's stomach, and I saw his face pale slightly.
Elowen burst out laughing, the sound bright and genuine despite the circumstances. I felt heat creep up my neck, my cheeks burning with embarrassment.
"No," I said quickly, perhaps a bit too forcefully. "She's my sister." The words came out tinged with pride I hadn't expected to feel, warm and protective and real.
Dylan's relief was visible. "Oh, thank god. I mean—sorry, sir. I didn't mean—"
"We're here about that trouble you mentioned," I continued, cutting off his stammering. "The situation inside."
Elowen opened her mouth, probably to explain her actual relationship to Casper, but I shot her a warning look. "Friend," I said firmly, watching her face fall slightly. "She's a friend of the people involved."
Dylan stepped aside immediately. "Of course, sir. Ma'am. Right this way."
I noticed the hurt in Elowen's amber eyes as we passed, the way her shoulders tensed with unspoken pain. It made my chest ache, but I knew this was necessary.
"I'm not doing this to hurt you," I said quietly as we approached the entrance. "I'm doing it to protect you. The Thornwood twins aren't exactly popular right now, and those pups you're carrying? They're perfect leverage for anyone who wants to hurt their fathers."
She looked at me for a long moment, her expression unreadable in the flickering neon light from the club's sign. "Okay," she said simply, but I could hear the resignation in her voice.
That was too easy, Slate observed suspiciously. She's planning something.
I know, I agreed silently, but there was nothing I could do about it now.
The moment we stepped inside, the full scope of the disaster became clear. The club looked like a war zone—tables overturned, chairs broken into kindling, shattered glass glittering on the floor like deadly confetti. People sat slumped against walls, pressing blood-soaked napkins to various injuries, their faces pale with shock and pain.
And in the center of it all, sprawled on the floor like a broken doll, was Casper.
He looked terrible—his face a mess of bruises and cuts, his clothes torn and stained with blood. But it was the crowd gathered around him that made my blood run cold, the mixture of fear and residual aggression hanging thick in the air.
"He's Alpha Thornwood's son!" someone was shouting, trying to hold back a group of angry-looking wolves. "You want to start a fucking war?"
The crowd murmured, their earlier bloodlust cooling as the reality of what they'd done began to sink in. Political consequences had a way of sobering people up faster than any amount of coffee.
"Fucking assholes," Casper mumbled from the floor, his voice barely audible. "All of you."
Then his eyes opened, and I felt Elowen gasp beside me. Leo's presence was unmistakable—that eerie red glow that turned Casper's normally warm amber eyes into something predatory and dangerous. His wolf was close to the surface, too close, and the air around him seemed to shimmer with barely contained violence.
Elowen's body went rigid, every muscle tensing as if preparing to spring forward. I could feel the pull between them even from where I stood, that invisible thread that connected mates humming with desperate energy.
She started walking toward him slowly, each step measured and deliberate, and the crowd parted before her like water around a stone. The fear in the air intensified, mixing with anticipation and something that tasted like inevitability.
I stayed where I was, watching carefully, ready to intervene if things went south. But something told me that whatever was about to happen, it was beyond my control now. This was between Elowen and Casper, between a mate and her injured partner, between a pregnant woman and the father of her children.
And god help anyone who tried to get in the way.