Chapter 262
Elowen's POV
Ronan's expression shifted from careful concern to something harder, more guarded, as he processed my words and the determination he must have heard beneath them. His jaw tightened, and I watched his free hand curl into a fist at his side, the knuckles still red from where he'd struck the wall moments before. "You're not going anywhere near him," he said, his voice dropping to that dangerous register I'd learned meant he was barely holding onto his temper. "Casper called from some bar called Moonrise Den, drunk off his ass and spoiling for a fight with God knows who or what, and you think I'm going to let my pregnant sister waddle into that mess? Absolutely fucking not. Final answer."
The casual dismissiveness in his tone, the way he'd reduced my concern to something foolish and irrational, sent a spike of anger through me that was sharp enough to make Juno growl low in the back of my mind. I opened my mouth to respond, to tell him exactly what he could do with his "final answer," but before I could get the words out, a rough voice cut through the tension from across the room.
"Ronan, brother... shut the hell up," Kade muttered, his arm sliding away from his eyes as he shifted in the chair, his long body unfolding with the lazy grace of a predator who'd been feigning sleep. "Some of us are trying to get some rest before dawn breaks and we have to deal with whatever fresh hell tomorrow brings."
I turned to look at him, watching as he stretched his arms above his head, his spine cracking audibly in the quiet room, and felt a flicker of something that might have been amusement if I weren't so furious at both of them. Kade's dark hair was disheveled from sleep, standing up in tufts that made him look younger than his years, and his amber eyes were still heavy-lidded and unfocused as he blinked at us like he was trying to remember why he'd bothered waking up.
"Where exactly do you think you're going?" Kade asked, his gaze settling on me with the kind of focus that suggested he was more awake than he'd first appeared, his voice carrying that particular blend of authority and exasperation that seemed to be his default setting when dealing with me lately.
Ronan answered before I could, his tone dripping with disdain as he waved his phone dismissively. "Casper's drunk, called from some supernatural dive bar begging for 'help,' and our dear sister here thinks she needs to go rescue him from whatever trouble his worthless ass has gotten into this time."
The words hit me like physical blows, each one carefully chosen to diminish both Casper's situation and my concern for it, and I felt something inside me snap, felt the anger I'd been trying to contain surge up hot and fierce, threatening to overflow. My hands clenched into fists at my sides, my nails digging into my palms hard enough to hurt, and I had to force myself to breathe slowly, evenly, to push back against the wave of fury that wanted to pour out in words I knew I'd regret.
"Calm down, Elowen," Juno warned, her mental voice tight with concern that only made my anger burn hotter. "This isn't good for you, isn't good for the babies. You need to—"
"I know what I need," I snapped back at her, not caring that my wolf was only trying to protect me, protect us, because her worry felt like one more person trying to control me, trying to tell me what I could and couldn't do, what I should and shouldn't feel. "I need everyone to stop treating me like I'm made of glass, like I'm too fragile or too stupid to make my own decisions."
The truth was, I understood why Ronan and Kade were angry, understood why the mention of Casper's name made their expressions harden and their voices turn cold. They'd been there in the aftermath, had picked up the pieces when I'd shattered, had held me while I cried and raged and wished I could stop loving the men who'd destroyed me. They'd earned the right to hate Casper and Cassian, earned the right to want to keep me far away from anything that might hurt me again.
But what they didn't seem to understand, what they couldn't seem to grasp no matter how many times I tried to explain it, was that Casper and Cassian weren't just my former mates, weren't just the men who'd broken my heart and chosen someone else. They were my family, had been since we were children running wild through Thornwood Pack's forests, learning to hunt and fight and survive together. They were the first and only people who'd made me believe I could be loved for exactly who I was, flaws and all.
"Yes, I know how pathetic that sounds," I muttered to Juno, anticipating her response before she could voice it, feeling the weight of my own foolishness pressing down on my chest like a physical thing.
"Former mates," Juno corrected sharply, her tone leaving no room for argument or self-pity. "They gave up that right when they chose her, when they let you walk away broken and bleeding while they stayed warm in her bed."
"Slip of the tongue," I said weakly, but we both knew it was a lie, knew that some part of me still couldn't accept the finality of what had happened, still clung to the hope that maybe, somehow, there was a way back to what we'd been before everything went wrong.
Kade's voice cut through my internal argument with Juno, his tone firm and brooking no disagreement as he pushed himself fully upright in the chair. "You're not going out there in the middle of the night, Elowen. If you're that worried about him, call him yourself, or better yet, call his mate and let her deal with whatever mess he's made."
"Ronan already tried Cassian," I said, my voice coming out more defensive than I'd intended as I gestured toward my brother, who was leaning against the doorframe now with his arms crossed over his chest. "No one's answering their phones, and you know Cassian wouldn't ignore calls unless something was seriously wrong."
"Then maybe something is seriously wrong," Kade countered, his eyes narrowing as he studied me with an intensity that made me want to squirm. "Maybe they're dealing with pack business, or maybe they're too busy with their new life to bother picking up the phone. Either way, it's not your problem anymore, and you sure as hell aren't going to waddle into some supernatural bar in your pajamas to play hero."
The casual mention of my sleepwear made me glance down at myself, at the oversized t-shirt that barely covered my thighs and the sleep shorts that had ridden up uncomfortably, and I felt heat rise to my cheeks even as my anger ratcheted up another notch. "I wasn't planning to go in my pajamas, you condescending ass," I shot back, my voice sharp enough to make both men's eyebrows rise. "I was going to get dressed first, believe it or not."
"Oh, well, that changes everything," Ronan drawled sarcastically from the doorway, and I turned my glare on him, watching his smirk falter slightly under the force of my fury. "My apologies, sister dear. By all means, put on some proper clothes before you go rushing off to save your ex-mate from the consequences of his own stupidity. That makes it so much more reasonable."
Kade and I both turned our heads to stare at Ronan at the exact same moment, our movements so synchronized that it would have been comical under different circumstances, and I heard Juno's amused snort in the back of my mind. "You two really are siblings," she observed dryly. "Same dramatic flair, same terrible timing, same inability to back down from a fight even when you know you should."
"Casper is in trouble," I said, forcing my voice to stay level even though I wanted to scream, wanted to shake both of them until they understood why I couldn't just ignore this, couldn't just let him suffer alone. "He called asking for help, and whether you like it or not, whether I like it or not, he's still—"