by Aspen Grey
“Hey, big boy,” a voice said from behind me. I turned around to see a beta dancer dressed up as a cowboy behind me, eyeing me with a practiced look of seduction. “My name’s Valentino. Interest you in a dance?”
He pointed towards an open door that obviously led back to the lap dance section. I shook my head.
“No.”
“You sure?” he asked, running a hand up my thigh. I slapped it away, causing him to recoil back.
“Fuck off,” I told him. “I’m not going to tell you again.”
Valentino scowled at me but backed off. “Party pooper!”
I shook my head and sniffed the air. The scent was harder to pick up inside, as it was masked by cologne, booze and the scents of the other shifters. But as I moved down the bar, I found it again. And it was no surprise that it led towards the lap dance area.
Typical scumbag.
I was used to guys like him. The crew I used to roll with back in the city were mostly pricks with no morals. While I fell into the life, they loved being in it and fancied themselves glamorous outlaws that would either run the city or go out in a blaze of glory, die young and have people write songs about them or something. When they weren’t robbing, cheating, lying or stealing, they were chasing ass.
I forced myself to remain calm as I followed the scent into the back, doing my best to look like a regular patron of the place who was just looking for a dance. But as I grew closer, I heard a hushed voice whisper threateningly.
“Listen, lambchop. Shut the fuck up! I don’t give a fuck what your job here is, all right? I want a dance, and you’re going to give me one!”
I knew without even having to look; it was him.
Someone tried to reply, but their voice was muffled. The prick had his hand over some poor omega’s mouth and was trying to force a dance out of him—probably the bartender as that would explain the lack of service. I wasn’t looking for a fight, and I wasn’t here to be a hero and get involved in some seedy, small-town drama, but I needed answers of my own, so I stepped through the doorway to get a better look.
And then I saw him.
Pressed up against the wall was the sexiest omega I’d ever seen. He was tiny, with warm brown hair, and despite the fact that he was working in a strip joint, he had a look of innocence about him that had my cock moving beneath my jeans.
Fuck. I groaned. I would absolutely destroy that!
But as I sniffed the air again and picked up his scent, I felt like I’d just taken an uppercut from Mike Tyson in his prime.
It can’t be!
My body went warm with desire and excitement. My dick was full mast beneath my jeans and I clenched both of my fists as I stared at him. He smelled like grapefruit, something I loved, and it was as though he was dripping in a cologne that had been designed for me. And that’s because it had been. The omega pressed up against the wall in front of me was my fated mate.
What was such a sweet, innocent-looking boy doing in a dump like this? It made no sense. Was he being forced to work here? Did he owe someone a debt? Just seeing him in this shithouse made my blood boil, but not as much as seeing that other alpha with his hands on him.
“HEY!” I blurted out without thinking. “Get your fucking hands off him!”
The alpha barely had time to react before I was on him. I snatched his wrist and bent it down and around his back, then wrapped my other arm around his neck from behind, getting him in a choke hold. The omega, obviously startled, leapt back.
“Hey! I don’t want any trouble!”
“There won’t be,” I told him. “Not once this asshole’s taken care of.”
The greasy bastard tried to elbow me, but I had him too tight and the blow glanced off my abs like a stone skipping across the water. I clenched my arm tighter on his throat and growled into his ear.
“You picked the wrong guy to work for. Viggo wanted me, he should have come himself.”
“I’m—just the—sc-scout!” he stammered, struggling futilely against my iron grip.
“Bullshit!” I hissed. “You work for Viggo. He told you to find me so he could send his goons to come and kill me!”
“Just let me go! I won’t tell him I found you! I promise!”
Maybe it was my year of retirement, or maybe it was the clean mountain air and peaceful living I’d been up to, because for a brief moment I actually believed the guy. I loosened my grip around his throat and let him turn around, but when I saw the look in his eyes, I knew he was nothing more than a liar.
He shifted, transforming into a mangy wolf with a tattered coat and beady eyes. I shifted too and ducked as he leapt at me. He spiraled head over heels past me and I whirled around and buried my teeth in his back before he had a chance to move. He howled in pain and I heard shouts from the front of house. We only had seconds before the whole place was in a panic. If I killed him here, he’d bleed out in the club and that would piss somebody off. I glanced around, saw a side door and began to drag him towards it.
“The fuck’s going on?” I heard the bouncer shout, but I wasn’t stopping.
The prick howled in pain as I slammed the door open and hauled him into the parking lot. He flailed desperately in an attempt to free himself, but he knew it was the end for him. I opened my jaws just long enough to aim my next attack. My fangs sank into his neck. I tasted blood and whipped my head to the side and felt a crunching sound and a pop. He slumped to the pavement dead.
One year. It had been one year since I’d put this shit behind me. One year since I swore I’d never be an enforcer again. One year since I’d decided to be free. I thought I’d be safe in Colorado, on the opposite end of the country, but I guess I was wrong.
I shifted back to human form and glanced behind me to see the omega I’d saved standing in the doorway looking horrified.
“It’s all right,” I told him. “You’re safe. But you need to get out of here with me. More men will be coming.”
“What—what are you talking about?” he stammered. The poor boy was as white as a ghost, obviously shaken up by what had just happened. I inhaled his scent as I stepped up to him and took his hand.
Fuck! It’s like a drug!
My dick was full mast again, even with all the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I pulled him out into the night towards my bike, but to my complete surprise, he actually fought against my grip.
“Let me go!” he howled. “Get off!”
“What?” I gasped, spinning around to face him. My nose was stuffed with his brilliant grapefruit aroma, and my body was on fire for him. All I could think about was getting him home to breed him and bind him to me forever, but he was looking at me like I was a complete stranger.
But why? Doesn’t he smell it too?
Fated mates were meant for each other. They both felt it. There was no possible way that I could have this reaction to an omega that wasn’t my fated mate and wasn’t meant for me. If he was meant for me, I was meant for him. And he should know that when he smelled me—
Then, I realized what was wrong.
The pheromone blocker. He couldn’t smell me.
“What’s your name?” I asked him, leaning forward.
“J-Jude,” he replied hesitantly.
“Jude. I’m Alexei. I know you can’t tell right now, but I’m your fated mate.” Jude’s eyes almost bulged out of his head. “I’m coated in pheromone blockers, but I promise you it’s true. I knew it the moment I smelled you, that’s why I did what I did. That man was here after me. It’s a long story and I’ll explain later. But right now, I’m going to take you home with me so you can feel what I feel.”
“No!” he shouted, slamming a fist against my chest. I barely even felt it. It was like a bee flying into a tree. “No, get off me!”
“Jude, I promise you, I won’t hurt you,” I told him. “But we’re meant for each other, and I have to show you that.”
“Help!” he shouted. I saw the bouncer in the doorway, looking like he was ready to shift. I only
had seconds. If I didn’t get Jude out of here now, he could slip away from me, and there was too much at stake for that to happen.
No. He was mine and I was his. I just had to prove it to him. So I threw him over my shoulder and ran to my bike.
“Hey! Stop!” I heard the bouncer call, but it was too late. I threw a leg over my seat, gunned the bike to life and sped off, with Jude kicking and screaming the entire time.
“Don’t worry, baby,” I told him. “This is what’s best. You’ll see.”
Chapter Three
Jude
“Help! Help me!” I shouted, but my words were lost in the roar of the wind as my captor blazed through the night on his motorcycle with me slung over his shoulder like a doll, imprisoned by his inescapable grip. I was terrified.
Who was that alpha prick back at the club, and why had Alexei come to my aid and killed him?
Fated mate? Was he nuts? First of all, that shit was something parents told their omega children to give them something to look forward to in life—it wasn’t real. And second of all, even if I did believe in that bullshit, I couldn’t even smell this guy and I was just supposed to take his word for it!?
For all I know he was even worse than the prick back at the club trying to force me to dance for him. Would my fated mate kidnap me? And what kind of pheromone blockers were these that I couldn’t smell him despite being draped across his body? And what was he talking about—more men would be coming?
“Hang in there!” he roared, his voice barely audible. “We’re almost there!”
“ALMOST WHERE?”
But it was useless. He couldn’t hear me. Even if he could, I doubted he would care. I was completely powerless. He had me and could do with me what he pleased. All I could do was accept that fact and pray that somehow this wouldn’t end with me buried in a ditch behind some dilapidated trailer in the middle of the woods. But in a moment of inspiration, I reached to my back pocket—
Fuck! I don’t even have my phone!
I must have left it behind the bar or somewhere at the club. That meant that even if someone at the club, like Tiffany, was worried about where I was, they couldn’t even track my phone to find me. No one knew where I was. I was screwed.
But still, if I was going to be kidnapped, it couldn’t have been by a hotter alpha. I hated to admit it to myself, but he was devastatingly gorgeous. When he’d stood there naked in the parking lot, his chest heaving and his muscles pulsing from the fight, I could hardly believe what I was seeing. His dick was hard too, and absolutely enormous! I felt like a complete idiot for even thinking this sort of thing, let alone feeling even remotely aroused for him, but I couldn’t help it.
Alexei was fucking hot.
He slowed the bike to take a turn, and I struggled again, thinking maybe I could break free, but it just wasn’t happening. This guy could probably curl a bus without breaking a sweat. I wasn’t going anywhere except where he wanted, and from what I could see, he was taking me out into the woods by Mist Peak.
I slumped down and gave in. Now, at least for the time being, I was his. Maybe once we got to wherever we were headed, I could find a way to escape. But for now, I was screwed.
He slowed the bike and turned off the road. For a second, I thought he was going to crash into a tree, but he weaved left around it, then right and left again, like he was a show dog threading through those poles, and we emerged onto a hidden path that cut through the woods. He revved the engine and started up the slope.
This is it, I thought. We’re almost at his trailer or his shack or his fucking mountain lair!
But to my surprise, as we came out of the woods, I saw myself staring at the most gorgeous house I’d ever seen.
It was large, modern, two stories with tons of glass and concrete and amber wood siding on one wall. There was a small paved driveway leading up to a garage, and although I couldn’t say for sure, it looked like there were lights up on the roof like there was a place to sit up there or something.
Who is this guy?
It must have cost a fortune, and didn’t seem to fit a guy who looked like this—a biker guy with long jet black hair like he’d been living off the land for years without a barber. Was he renting it? Squatting? Did he kill the owner? I tensed up again as the garage door opened and swallowed us up.
For a moment it was dark, and when Alexei switched off the engine I could hear the sound of my own heartbeat, ready to burst from my chest. Then two banks of fluorescent lights kicked on and I saw we were in a beautifully clean workshop, with workbenches and tools.
“I’m gonna take you inside now,” Alexei said, his voice as strong as his grip—maybe even stronger. “Please don’t fight me.”
“I can’t make any promises,” I snarled as he stood up and carried me towards a door.
This is how the scary movie starts, I thought. He was going to bring me into a torture chamber like at the end of that movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He was going to be the politest shifter serial killer in the world, smiling the whole time while he dismembered me.
But that wasn’t what happened at all. In fact, as he carried me into what looked to be the main room of his house, an open kitchen that overlooked a living room with full plate glass windows, I kind of felt at home.
I felt ashamed to admit it, but it was jaw dropping—something out of a magazine or one of those YouTube videos that shows how the ultra-rich live. Who was this guy? I felt like Dorothy and I’d just been swept away into some crazy alpha shifter Oz.
“You must be scared,” Alexei said as he carried me to a flight of steps and took them easily. “But don’t be. I promise you, once you smell me, you’ll understand.”
“And when I do, will you let me go?”
“If that’s what you want,” he replied. “But I can promise you—it won’t be.”
Yeah, we’ll fucking see!
He carried me down a hallway lined with closed doors, and into the room at the end, which turned out to be the master bedroom. It was enormous and beautiful with whites and peach colors everywhere, and a bright yellow painting hanging above the bed. He turned right into a master bathroom the size of my entire apartment, and without hesitating, stepped into a shower bigger than my kitchen.
Finally, he set me down, and although my entire body was telling me to run, I knew it would be pointless. He’d catch me after I took two steps, and then where would I be? Right back here where I’d been, only more humiliated. No, better to just play by his rules for now.
“Strip,” he told me.
“Excuse me?” I replied. “Don’t think that just because you’ve got a house fit for Justin Bieber that you can order me around.”
Surprisingly, Alexei smiled.
God, he’s handsome. Shit—don’t think that! He’s crazy!
“I don’t want to get your clothes wet.”
I glared defiantly back at him, doing my best to keep my dick from growing as I looked at his perfect body. Was this Stockholm Syndrome or was it too early for that?
He looked at me like a man who was used to getting his way. There was something alluring about him, while terrifying at the same time. I hesitated, then did what he asked. I threw my Twinkie shirt aside, feeling self-conscious as his eyes fell on my exposed chest. Then, I unbuckled my pants and took them down and stood there just in my boxers. He switched on the water and motioned to them.
“Those too.”
I was ashamed. Not because he was going to see me naked, but because my dick seemed to have a mind of its own and was more than half hard. He would definitely notice. I looked at him, pursed my lips in defiance and dropped my boxers.
“Whoa,” he mused as he saw my growing erection. “Not as upset about all this as you seemed, eh?”
I grimaced as he took my wrist and pulled me into the shower and closed the door. He held me close and we stepped into the water.
“Hand me that soap,” he said. “Just don’t drop it. Or do—either way!”
“Real
funny,” I groaned as I turned around quickly and grabbed a small ivory bar and handed it to him. He ran it over his body, and even though I tried not to look, I couldn’t help but watch as the suds traced the lines of his body, down his chiseled pecs and thick chest, to his abs and down to his…
I looked away, but it was impossible to hide my attraction. My dick was standing out straight like the prow of a ship, and Alexei definitely saw it.
Fuck my life.
I blushed. I could feel it. My cheeks were red and I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. What kind of weirdo got a hard-on when he looked at his kidnapper? This wasn’t a fucking romance novel—it was my life! I wanted to jump off a cliff from sheer embarrassment, but then, something incredible happened.
A scent began to fill the shower.
It was powerful and my nose awoke like a blazing bonfire in the middle of the darkness. My eyes snapped up to his as I inhaled.
Warm coconut vanilla…
It was stupid, but I snatched the soap from him and smelled it, just to make sure there wasn’t any strange trickery going on. But of course it was unscented. I wasn’t smelling some manufactured smell—I was smelling a shifter scent, and not only that, a very specific shifter scent. The scent of my fated mate.
“You see?” he asked, stepping closer to me. “You smell it now?”
As the water washed more of the pheromone blockers from his Adonis body, I became more and more drunk from the potent scent that had my body suddenly yearning for his touch. In seconds, Alexei had gone from a dangerous kidnapper to the center of my universe. I was like a tiny planet orbiting his enormous star.
Something that I had never experienced before happened; my slick began to run. My body began to quiver with anticipation and arousal. My instincts were taking over as I stared at him and was overwhelmed by his incredible smell. I was a virgin, and had never even given so much as a handjob, but right now, more than anything, I wanted him to breed me.
