Chapter 273
## Alaric's POV
"Fine," I said, my voice tight with resignation as I watched Elowen's eyes light up with that dangerous spark of determination. "Drive to the front door. That's it. Just to prove you can handle the car."
She practically bounced in the driver's seat, her hands already gripping the steering wheel with white-knuckled intensity. "Thank you, Alaric. I promise, just to the door."
I should have known better. I should have seen the way her jaw was set, the way her amber eyes held that wild gleam that meant trouble. But I was thinking about her need for independence, her frustration at being coddled, and I let my guard down.
The moment I clicked my seatbelt into place, Elowen's foot slammed down on the accelerator.
"What the—" The words were ripped from my throat as we shot forward like a rocket, the SUV's engine roaring to life with enough force to pin me back against the seat.
Instead of turning toward the house's front entrance, Elowen yanked the wheel hard right, sending us careening toward the main gate at a speed that made my vision blur.
"Elowen!" I shouted, grabbing for the wheel, but she was ready for me, elbowing my hands away with surprising strength for someone six months pregnant.
"Casper needs help," she said through gritted teeth, her eyes fixed on the rapidly approaching gate. "And I'm going to help him, whether you like it or not."
"This is insane! Pull over!" But even as I yelled, I could see it was too late. We were already through the gates, the security guards leaping aside with curses that were lost in our wake.
This is why we don't negotiate with pregnant women, Slate growled in my mind, his voice tight with panic. They're completely fucking unstable!
"I can hear you," Elowen said sweetly, never taking her eyes off the road as we hit the main highway. "Your wolf has a very loud mental voice."
I squeezed my eyes shut as she whipped the car around a hairpin turn, my stomach lurching violently with each sharp maneuver. The scent of burning rubber filled my nostrils, mixing unpleasantly with the pine-heavy forest air rushing through the cracked window. My fingers dug into the leather armrest until I felt the stitching give way beneath my nails.
This is insane, Slate growled in my mind, his voice tight with anxiety. Letting a pregnant woman drive like a maniac through backroads in the middle of the night—brilliant plan, brother.
"Shut up," I muttered under my breath, earning a sideways glance from Elowen that I pretended not to notice.
I'm just saying, Slate continued, undeterred, I thought pregnancy was supposed to make females more cautious, more protective. Not turn them into reckless speed demons with a death wish.
I gritted my teeth, keeping my eyes firmly closed as the car bounced over what felt like a pothole the size of a small crater. "Her mates are in trouble," I reminded him tersely. "What did you expect?"
The car swerved again, and I felt my body press against the door as centrifugal force tried its best to throw me through the window. My wolf whimpered pathetically, a sound I would never admit to hearing.
Then I heard it—a sickening crunch of metal against wood that made my eyes fly open despite my better judgment.
Through the side mirror, I caught a glimpse of splintered fence posts in our wake, the car's paint job now decorated with fresh scratches that gleamed in the moonlight.
"You're fucking insane!" I shouted, finally losing my carefully maintained composure.
Elowen had the audacity to shrug, her amber eyes never leaving the winding road ahead. "Oops. I'll pay for it," she said casually, as if she'd just knocked over someone's coffee instead of demolishing private property at sixty miles per hour.
"With what money?" I shot back, my voice higher than I'd intended. "You're technically broke, remember?"
"I'm not broke," she corrected, taking another turn that made my vision blur. "I'm just... financially challenged. And a terrible driver. But mostly financially challenged."
"No," I said flatly, my knuckles white as I gripped the dashboard. "You're definitely a terrible driver. The broke part is secondary."
Despite my terror, I couldn't help but marvel at how we'd somehow already reached the outskirts of town. The dense forest had given way to scattered buildings and streetlights, the transition so quick it felt almost supernatural. Either Elowen had discovered a shortcut through the fabric of space-time, or I'd blacked out from fear for longer than I thought.
I reached out through the mind link, finding Ronan and Kade's consciousness like familiar threads in the darkness. Where are you guys?
Kade's response came back dripping with sarcasm. In fucking France, where do you think?
About twenty minutes out, Ronan cut in, his mental voice calmer but edged with tension. How is she?
I felt Kade's attention sharpen dangerously. Why? What happened?
I swallowed hard, watching as Elowen aimed the car toward what I desperately hoped was the club and not just a random building she'd decided to ram. We're pulling up to the club now.
'We'? Kade's suspicion was palpable even through the link. Who the fuck is 'we'?
Elowen? Ronan's disbelief would have been funny under different circumstances. How did you—did you fucking teleport there?
Something like that, I muttered, cutting the connection as Elowen drove the car up onto the curb with a horrible grinding sound that suggested the wheel rim had just become intimately acquainted with concrete.
She was out of the car before it had fully stopped, stumbling slightly as her feet hit the pavement. I watched through the windshield as she marched toward the front of the line outside the club, her pregnant belly leading the way like the prow of a very determined ship.
I took a moment to assess the damage to the car, circling it slowly in the dim glow of the streetlights. The scratch from the fence ran the entire length of the passenger side, deep enough that I could see bare metal gleaming through the paint. The wheel rim was bent at an angle that would make any mechanic weep, and there was a suspicious dent in the rear bumper that I was fairly certain hadn't been there when we left.
"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.