His new stepsister His biggest threat (Claire and Elijah) novel Chapter 232

Chapter 232

Claire’s POV

The air inside the Red Pine Ice Arena smelled like frozen expectations.

But as I sat in the third row of the bleachers, clutching a lukewarm coffee, the atmosphere felt jagged.

The victory over the Reeds hadn’t brought the total peace I’d imagined.

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Instead, it had left the pack in a state of hyper-awareness, like an animal that had just survived a forest fire and was now twitching at the sound of every falling leaf.

Down on the ice, the Varsity team was a whirlwind of black and silver jerseys.

Elijah was in the center of it all, a charcoal blur moving with a speed that bordered on supernatural.

He wasn’t just playing; he was venting. Every time his skates bit into the ice, it sounded like a serrated blade tearing through

silk.

“He’s going too fast,” a voice drifted down from the row behind me.

I didn’t have to turn around to know who it was. The scent hit me first-cloves, expensive leather, and a faint, electric ozone that signaled a high-ranking wolf.

Valerius was leaning back against the cold aluminum bench, her long legs crossed, looking as comfortable as if she were in a private box at a professional game rather than a drafty high school rink.

“He’s practicing,” I said, my voice steady. 74 bpm. My heart wasn intimidated, even if the rest of me was on high alert.

“He’s peacocking,” Val corrected, her green eyes tracking Elijah’s every move. “He knows I’m watching. He knows my father is currently in your Alpha’s study, discussing the ‘unfortunate instability’ of this territory. He’s trying to prove that the Hale heir is a force of nature.”

I finally turned to look at her.

She wasn’t wearing her leather jacket today; she had on a sleek, high-tech athletic top that showed off the lean, corded muscle of her arms.

She looked like a predator who had spent her entire life training for a hunt she hadn’t found yet.

“He doesn’t have to prove anything to you,” I said. “He already proved it at the distillery.”

Val let out a short, sharp laugh. “The distillery was a brawl, Claire A desperate scramble. The High Council doesn’t care about brawls. They care about control. They care about whether the Red Pine can hold its borders without the Reeds to balance the scales. And they certainly care about why the future Alpha is tied to a girl whose heart is held together by wires and sheer luck.”

I turned back to the ice, refusing to let her see the flicker of annoyance in my eyes. On the rink, Felix zipped past the goal, shouting something at Jax that made the other boy bark out a laugh.

For a second, they looked like normal teens. Then Elijah took a slap shot.

The sound was like a crack of thunder. The puck moved so fast the normal eye couldn’t track it, slamming into the back of the net with a force that made the reinforced glass behind the goal shudder.

The goalie-a junior named Sam-didn’t even have time to blink.

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Chapter 232

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“See?” Val whispered, leaning forward so her breath was warm against my ear. “Pure, unadulterated aggression. It’s impressive, sure. But can he lead? Can he sit at a table with the Southern Primes and negotiate without baring his teeth? Or is he just a wolf in a jersey?”

“Why are you really here, Val?” I asked, my grip tightening on my coffee cup. “You’re not here for a hockey game. You’re not here for an audit. You’re looking for something. What is it?”

Val’s expression shifted. The mocking mask slipped for a heartbeat, revealing something colder, something more calculated. “I’m looking for the glitch in the system. The Council says you’re the Hale weakness. But my father… he thinks you might be the anchor. He thinks the bond didn’t just save you; he thinks it changed the frequency of the Hale power. And if that’s true, the balance of the North doesn’t just tip-it breaks.”

Down on the ice, the whistle blew. Coach shouted for the team to circle up. Elijah didn’t go to the bench. He glided over to the glass directly in front of where Val and I were sitting.

He sprayed a cloud of ice shavings against the barrier, his chest heaving, his face slick with sweat.

He looked up, his eyes meeting Val’s. The gold in them was bright, a silent, glowing warning. Then his gaze shifted to me, and the fire softened instantly.

He tapped his glove against the glass-two quick beats. Our beat

“He’s quite the specimen,” Val noted, standing up and stretching. But tell him this for me, Claire. The Southern packs don’t send lawyers and they don’t send ‘relocation’ notices. They send Sentinels. And if my father isn’t satisfied with the report I give him by the end of the week, the next person sitting in this stand won’t be as charming as I am.”

She gave me a mocking salute and headed for the exit, her boots clicking rhythmically against the concrete.

I sat there for a long time after she left, watching the team run drills.

The “normal” high school life we’d fought for felt like a fragile glass ornament, held up by the strength of a bond that the rest of the world wanted to dissect.

Elijah finally hopped over the boards at the end of practice, his skates clattering as he made his way toward me.

He didn’t even stop to take off his helmet. He sat down on the bench beside me, the scent of the ice and his own exertion rolling off him in waves.

“What did she want?” he asked, his voice low and jagged.

“She wanted to get in my head,” I said, reaching out to wipe a bead of sweat from his temple. “She’s an auditor, El. She’s looking for a reason to tell the Council that we’re n not ready.”

Elijah let out a harsh breath, his eyes fixed on the empty spot where Val had been sitting.

“They’ve been looking for a reason to take the Red Pine since the day my father took over. They think we’re too soft. Too focused on the ‘human’ side of things.”

“Are we?” I asked.

Elijah turned to me, his hand finding mine. His palm was hot, his pulse steady and strong against my skin. “We’re the ones still standing. The Reeds followed every ‘wolf’ rule in the book, and they’re currently in the back of a van heading for the border. Being soft isn’t what saved us, Claire. Being us saved us.”

“She mentioned the Southern packs,” I whispered. “She said they’re watching.”

Elijah’s jaw tightened. “Let them watch. I’m going to give them a hell of a show on Friday night. I’m going to play so hard they’ll be talking about the Red Pine from here to the coast.”

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Chapter 232

“It’s just a game, El,” I reminded him, though I knew it wasn’t. Nothing in our lives was just anything anymore.

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“It’s a statement,” he corrected. He stood up, offering me his han. “Come on. Felix and Jax are going to the diner to celebrate Sam’s first day as starting goalie without getting a concussion. I told them we’d meet them there.”

We walked out of the rink and into the biting cold of the mount in evening, I looked up at the stars.

They were the same stars that had been there during the distillery breach, and the same stars that had seen me in the hospital bed.

They felt indifferent, but the boy beside me felt like the sun.

We reached the truck, but before Elijah could open the door, a low, black sedan pulled up to the curb.

The windows were tinted, and the engine was a whisper-far too quiet for a normal car. The back window rolled down just an inch, revealing the glint of a silver-headed cane.

Silas.

“Get in,” the old wolf’s voice rumbled from the shadows of the car. “The Council’s ‘auditor’ is currently having dinner with your father, and I think it’s time you two learned exactly what kind of game is being played.”

Elijah and I shared a look. The diner was forgotten.

The “normal” teenage night was gone before it had even begun.

“The game is hockey, Silas,” Elijah said, his voice echoing in the quiet parking lot.

“No, boy,” Silas replied, the window rolling up. “The game is survival. And you’re currently losing the first period.”

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