Chapter 148 Chapter 148
Violet
Alpha Alaric walked in first, and his presence filled the space like a physical force, like a storm front moving in. He looked extremely pissed and his shoulders were rigid.
Those eyes swept over the room, taking in every detail with the kind of assessment that made you feel like an insect under a microscope. They lingered on Nate's bandaged face, then moved to Nicole's tear-stained cheeks, to me lying in the hospital bed, and finally to Elijah's bloodied hands.
Behind him came Luna Aurelia, following him like a shadow. Her expression revealed absolutely nothing, as composed as a porcelain mask.
The doctor immediately stopped and bowed low at the waist, nearly dropping his tablet in his haste. "Alpha Alaric. Luna Aurelia." His voice had taken on a tremor that hadn't been there before. "I wasn't informed you were coming."
"We weren't aware we needed to inform the hospital staff of our movements," Alaric said dismissively. "Tell me how he is."
And for a second I saw Elijah look up at him but Alaric wasn’t even looking at him anymore.
He had already advanced towards Nate’s bed. Cassie immediately reached for Elijah’s shoulder to give him a gentle squeeze.
The doctor straightened, and I could see his hands trembling slightly as he clutched his tablet like a lifeline.
"Nate Cross has suffered significant facial trauma, but as I just explained to Ms. Clarke, he's expected to make a full recovery thanks to the accelerated healing treatments. We've administered the full protocol. Within the week, there should be minimal scarring." The doctor paused, swallowing hard. "And Violet was drugged and intoxicated, but she's also expected to recover fully within the next twelve hours."
Alpha Alaric dismissed the last line entirely as if I wasn’t even present in the room. His expression didn't change, but something flickered in his eyes. Disapproval, maybe. Or calculation as he looked in my direction.
The doctor assumed the next question would be about Elijah so he answered before asked.
"Your son is uninjured, Alpha. He was not admitted as a patient. He's been here voluntarily, watching over Ms. Violet."
Again there was no reaction at all to those lines.
Alpha Alaric's gaze swept over the room again, slower this time. He looked at Nate's swollen, bandaged face for a long moment. Then at Nicole, who had shrunk back in her chair like she wanted to disappear. Then at me, and I felt the weight of that heavy stare.
Finally, his eyes landed on Elijah, and the temperature seemed to drop another ten degrees.
"How did Nate sustain his injuries?" Alaric asked the doctor, though his tone suggested he already knew the answer.
The doctor's eyes darted to Elijah, then away just as quickly. "I... there was an altercation, sir. At a nightclub. I believe Mr. Lockwood was involved, but I don't have all the details of what transpired. I only know what the paramedics reported."
"I see." Alaric's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. "And who else was present during this altercation?"
"Ms. Cassie was brought in as well, though she was uninjured. Just shaken." The doctor gestured vaguely toward where Cassie sat, still curled in on herself.
"Thank you for your thorough care, Doctor." Alaric's tone made it clear the thanks were perfunctory. "You may leave us now. We need to speak privately."
"Of course, Alpha." The doctor bowed again, even lower this time, and practically fled from the room. The nurse scurried after him, nearly tripping over her own feet in her haste to escape.
The door clicked shut, and the silence that followed was suffocating. For a long moment, no one moved. No one spoke. The only sounds were the soft mechanical beeps and hisses of hospital equipment and Nicole's quiet, hiccupping breaths as she tried to control her crying.
Alpha Alaric turned his full attention to Elijah, and even though I was just an observer, I felt the weight of that gaze and the need to shield him from the incoming lecture he was about to receive.
Elijah stood slowly, releasing my hand with obvious reluctance. His fingers slipped from mine, and I immediately frowned at the loss of that contact. He moved to place himself between his father and me, shifting his body so he was blocking most of Alaric's view of the bed.
The protective gesture didn't go unnoticed. Alaric's eyes narrowed fractionally.
"Explain," Alaric said. Just that single word, cracking through the room like a whip.
Elijah's shoulders were tense, every muscle in his body coiled tight. But his voice when he spoke was steady, and controlled. "Nate assaulted Violet. He cornered her, put his hands on her against her will, tried to force himself on her. I responded accordingly."
"You responded accordingly." Alaric repeated the words slowly, letting them hang in the air between them. His tone dripped with disdain. He gestured toward Nate with one hand, the movement almost lazy. "Does that look like an appropriate response to you? You nearly killed him, Elijah. In public. At a strip club, of all the degrading places you could have chosen to air our dirty laundry."
"He had his hands on her." There was a growl underlying Elijah's words now, his wolf rising to the surface. "He drugged her. He was trying to rape her."
"And you know this how? Because she told you?"
Alaric's voice rose suddenly, filling the room like thunder. The windows rattled in their frames. One of the monitors beeped frantically for a moment before settling back to its normal rhythm.
“You heard the doctor that her drinks were spiked…” He began but Alpha Alaric cut him off viciously.
“I didn’t hear him blame Nate for it and so if you have no proof of this baseless accusation, you better shut up!”
Nicole flinched, curling further into herself. Veronica and Madison took an involuntary step backward. Even Cassie seemed to shrink smaller in her chair.
But Elijah didn't move nor did he flinch. He stood his ground, meeting his father's fury with his own barely controlled rage.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Alaric continued, his voice dropping back to that dangerously quiet level that was somehow more terrifying than the shouting.
"The spectacle you've created? We've had three different news outlets contact us already wanting to malign my reputation on the front page”
He widened his hands dramatically and continued, “They are discussing headlines such as 'Alpha's Son in Strip Club Brawl.' 'Prominent Pack Member Hospitalized After Brutal Beating.' There are cell phone videos, Elijah. Videos of you beating Nate unconscious while people screamed and ran for the exits. Do you understand what this does to our reputation? To our standing in the werewolf community? To the name I spent decades building up and your one irrational act now threatens to wipe it all away?"
"Alpha..." Elijah started, but Alaric cut him off with a sharp gesture.
"You have disgraced this family. You have embarrassed this pack. You have harmed your future brother-in-law..."
"He's not my brother-in-law," Elijah said through gritted teeth, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.