For a Saturday night, O'Shea's wasn't particularly crowded. Benedict sat at the bar with his brothers and Natalia, Logan's mate, drowning his irritation and embarrassment in liquor. At least the food was better, since Natalia rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen to cook for everyone, despite the bartender's objections. Unfortunately, Benedict and the rest of the Chase clan had grown accustomed to a higher level of quality in their food since Natalia moved in with Logan a month earlier, so the regular pub food didn't quite cut it anymore.
Natalia sat on Logan's lap so he could nose around in her hair, though she didn't seem to even notice anymore as she concentrated on Benedict. "So where did you meet this girl?"
Edgar, leaning his elbows on the bar on the other side of Benedict, chuckled into his beer glass. "Jail."
She gave him a look and shook her finger at Benedict. "Really, Ben, you know better. She probably just wants your money."
Benedict grunted and poured himself another shot. It had been a terrible idea to come to O'Shea's. Ruby and Rafe weren't even there, but caught up in some pack business in the back office. So he hadn't learned anything useful about Eloise other than everyone else thought she was a gold digger.
Logan didn't look up from examining Natalia's ear. "Like you just want all my money."
She gave him a look that should have singed his eyebrows, and Benedict's forehead thunked against the bar. The very last thing in the world he wanted around him was a happy couple, flirting and giggling. Edgar laughed and slapped him on the back, leaning to say to Logan and his mate, "There's more."
"No there's not," Benedict said, voice muffled against the bar. "There certainly is not."
"She's mixed up with the hyenas."
A curse exploded out of Logan with enough force that Natalia looked startled, holding onto the bar as the lap she occupied became a great deal less stable. "Are you fucking kidding me, Benedict?"
Benedict held up his hands and forced himself to sit up. He held out his phone after pulling up the photos he took outside the hotel. "Val Szdoka and her family. No idea how they're connected, but they visited her at the hotel."
Logan took the phone and thumbed through the photos, his expression darkening. "No way. No, we're not having —"
"Eloise?" Natalia frowned at the screen, and Benedict's heart seized up. Edgar blinked. She glanced up, then pointed at the screen. "That girl is the one you're talking about? Eloise?"
"Yes," Benedict said slowly. He didn't dare look away from her lest he see Edgar and realize it was all a joke. "Do you know her?"
"Sort of." She looked a little uncomfortable as she shifted on Logan's lap, until he caught her waist and said something in her ear. Then she laughed and flushed, but stilled. She handed the phone back to Benedict. "She used to come into the soup kitchen where I volunteer. It's been a year since I've seen her there, I think, but she used to be a regular."
"The soup kitchen." It hurt to say, to think Eloise was so needy she had to seek charity for food. Someone hadn't cared for her enough.
"She was a tough kid." Natalia frowned, leaning back against Logan's chest. "A really tough kid. She stood her ground and even the mean guys there, the big guys who would try to bully the girls into tricking for them, even they left her alone. No one bugged her. I always wondered what it was. I mean, one time she was mad about something and I kind of got the chills, but I don't remember ever being afraid of her." Nat reached for her beer. "Still. Everyone else was."
"What else do you know about her?" Edgar asked when it became clear that Benedict couldn't speak. He held onto the bar for dear life, the lion raging that she'd been so mistreated. That some son of a bitch thought she would prostitute herself.
Natalia didn't seem to notice Benedict's turmoil. "She never talked much, but one of her good friends was chatty as hell and used to help me chop vegetables. It sounds like Eloise lost her mother when she was in her teens and spent a couple years in foster care, but it wasn't easy on her. Got bounced around a lot until she ended up in a group home. She hustled, though — I've never seen anyone work as hard as she did. I think some of that hustle was directed at illegal activities, but I never saw her hurt anyone. She was a nice enough kid, like I said, just a little odd."
Benedict concentrated on his hands, the smooth glass between his fingers, the amber liquid sloshing around. A nice kid in foster care. No wonder she ran at the first opportunity. No wonder she looked for family with awful people like Val Szdoka. He braced himself to stand and stagger back outside to take a cab home for the night. "Great. If you don't mind, I'll —"
Ruby stormed out of the back office, face a thundercloud, and the entire bar immediately silenced. The pack members jumped to their feet or cowered, depending on rank, but none of them looked at her. Logan moved Natalia off his lap and ushered her behind the bar, out of harm's way, and looked at Ruby and her brother. "Is something wrong?"
"Fucking Evershaw." A snarl boiled up in her chest and Rafe wasn't far behind, eyes flashing gold and red.
Benedict wobbled to his feet, ready for a fight. If the SilverLine pack dared attack O'Shea's, he would stand with the O'Shea pack. Miles was just a dick.
Edgar tapped the bar near Ruby's elbow. "Do we need backup?"
"No," she ground out, and a light dusting of hair sprouted along her arms, disrupting the myriad tattoos she had.
Benedict blinked. He'd never seen that before. Before he could ask what happened, though, the front door blew open and a hulking beast of a man staggered in. Benedict recognized him from the bar, so knew the trouble wasn't due to Lewis's return, but then he saw who squeezed in the door next to him, and his heart stopped. Eloise.
She looked stunned, disoriented. Hurt. He lurched forward, a roar starting in his chest, but Edgar grabbed his arm and yanked him back. Ruby beat him across the bar to grab Eloise by the shoulders. "What the fuck happened? Why is Todd fucking Evershaw calling me, asking about you? What did you do?"
"Christ," Eloise said under her breath, lifting up a pair of mirrored sunglasses to rub her eyes. "Can the interrogation wait until I've had a dr—"
And then she spotted him, and all the color drained from her face. She ducked, tried to bolt, but Ruby still had her arm and then Logan did as well. He loomed over them and grabbed her, hauled her over to the bar as a chorus of growls erupted from the rest of the pack. Ruby snarled and turned her ire on Lewis, interrogating him as the man cowered as if she weren't a foot shorter than him.
But Benedict only cared about Eloise as she squeaked and cringed, and Logan's hands were on her, squeezing her arms, bruising her —
He launched forward and knocked his brother back, shoved his alpha, with a roar that silenced the bar for the second time that night. He kept Eloise behind him as he squared off with his older brother, ready to draw blood. "Don't touch her."
Logan's eyes narrowed, already flashing gold, and his shoulders grew as he flexed. "You challenging me, cub?"
"Don't touch her," was all Benedict could say. No other coherent thoughts could make it through the rage and fury. Eloise was scared, and hurt, and trembling as she leaned against his back. "You hurt her."
"I did not and you know it." Logan's teeth showed, far pointier than any human's. "Back the fuck off, Benedict, or we will brawl right here."
Benedict couldn't move. Couldn't risk something happening to Eloise. So he waited, and the tension simmered. Ruby and her wolves gathered on the other side of the bar, giving them room in case the lions started throwing down. And then Natalia said very calmly, "Logan Chase, stop being a bully this instant."
He blinked. Logan did not, but his expression darkened. "Woman, now is not —"
"You scared that girl." Natalia edged herself between her mate and Benedict, shoving Benedict back a few steps to get room. "And you know it. Now cut it out and let's go home."
He grumbled and snarled, fighting it, but then Edgar flicked the back of Benedict's ear and he jumped. The spell broke. Tension eased. Eloise still trembled behind him, but Benedict could breathe.