Chapter 231
Elowen's POV
"You put a fucking demon inside me!" Casper's hands fisted in Raven's shirt, yanking him forward. "Leo nearly killed people at the dance. He destroyed the ballroom. And you knew—you knew what he was all along!"
"He's served you well enough, hasn't he?" Raven said, infuriatingly calm despite being manhandled. "And yes, I can influence Leo. He comes from my domain, after all."
Cassian's sharp inhale told me he'd just realized the full implications. "You've been able to control Casper this whole time."
My heart stopped. The room seemed to tilt.
"Control is such an ugly word," Raven mused. "I prefer—"
He didn't get to finish. Casper shoved him, hard.
I tensed, ready for violence, ready for everything to explode. But Cassian's hand on my shoulder stopped me.
"Look," he said quietly, and there was something almost like amusement in his voice.
I turned my head to follow his gaze—and then I saw it.
Grimm had moved. The massive hellhound was now pressing against Casper's legs, his head lowered and his lips pulled back to reveal rows of gleaming teeth. But those teeth weren't aimed at Casper.
They were aimed at Raven.
"Traitor!" Raven exclaimed, actually sounding offended.
"Hellhounds protect their own," Raven said, backing up a step. He actually looked... wary. "I should have realized. I thought you'd figure out the connection between Grimm and Leo, given how similar they are."
"Similar?" Cassian said. "They're practically the same creature."
It was true. Now that I was looking for it, I could see the resemblance. The same massive size, the same glowing eyes, the same dangerous grace.
Casper pushed Raven away one more time for good measure, and Grimm immediately leaped up, his front paws landing on Casper's chest. The hellhound was so large that even on his hind legs, his head came level with Casper's face.
"Yeah, okay, buddy," Casper said, his voice oddly gentle as he steadied himself. "I get it. We're family."
"So," Casper said, looking down at Grimm, "could he... could he go with Elowen? To the Ashborne Pack?"
The words hit me like a punch to the gut. Right. Because I was going to have to leave. Going to have to watch Casper and Cassian pretend to flaunt Sarah around while I ran away with my tail between my legs.
Don't, Juno warned. Don't cry. Not in front of him.
But it was hard. So fucking hard.
"What do you say, boy?" Raven crouched down, bringing himself eye-level with Grimm. "Want to play bodyguard for a while?"
Grimm's response was a low, rumbling growl that somehow sounded like agreement.
"At least he'll be able to comfort me when I'm heartbroken, alone, and contemplating murdering a brunette she-wolf," I said, trying for humor and failing miserably. My voice cracked on the last word.
"Ah, but murder is Grimm's favorite game," Raven said with a half-smile. Then, surprisingly, he rose and moved to crouch in front of me, his red eyes searching my face. For just a moment, I saw something that looked almost like sympathy.
I couldn't handle it anymore. My legs gave out, and I stumbled backward to sink onto one of the long wooden benches that lined the cathedral walls. All the energy just... drained out of me. Like someone had pulled a plug.
"Can I sweeten the deal somehow?" Raven asked, still watching me with that unsettling intensity.
"This isn't exactly a sweet deal," I muttered, pressing my palms against my eyes. "This is a shit sandwich, and you're asking if I want extra mayo."
The bench creaked as someone sat beside me. Casper's warmth, his pine and smoke scent wrapping around me like a blanket.
"We'll figure it out," he said softly, his hand finding mine. "We'll find a way."
But as I sat there in that blood-red cathedral, flanked by my mates, a hellhound at my feet and a demon watching us all with ancient eyes, I couldn't help but wonder:
What if there was no way out?
What if we were all just fucked?