Chapter three: Breaking his own rules 2

The inside of Ember was exactly what Kadence had expected and somehow worse.

Red and gold lights pulsed in rhythm with music that was too loud, too aggressive.

The air was thick with sweat, alcohol, and desperation. Bodies moved on the dance floor like they were trying to outrun their problems. The bar stretched along one wall, backlit with amber lighting that made everyone look either beautiful or dangerous.

Kadence hated it immediately.

"Come on," Ronan said, leading him toward the bar.

"Let's get a drink. You look like you need one."

They found two empty stools. The bartender—a woman with purple hair and more piercings than Kadence could count—slid over with a practiced smile.

"What can I get you?"

"Two whiskeys, neat," Ronan said. "Make them doubles." She nodded and disappeared.

Kadence surveyed the room, his wolf on high alert. There were humans everywhere—their scents mingling, their hearts beating at that slightly faster rhythm that marked them as mortal, breakable.

A few wolves scattered throughout the crowd, but they were loners or from packs Kadence didn't recognize.

No one from Thornwell. Good. The last thing he needed was pack gossip about the Alpha heir slumming it at a border club.

The bartender returned with their drinks. Ronan paid, then raised his glass.

"To terrible decisions and good stories," he said.

Kadence clinked his glass against Ronan's but didn't drink.

His attention had snagged on something—a stage at the far end of the club, currently empty but clearly the main attraction. Spotlights waited in the darkness like predators.

"What kind of club is this?" Kadence asked slowly.

Ronan had the decency to look slightly guilty.

"It's... a gentlemen's club. Technically."

Kadence's blood went cold. "You brought me to a strip club."

"I brought you to a club where consenting adults perform for other consenting adults," Ronan corrected.

"There's a difference."

"Ronan—"

"Before you spiral, just listen," Ronan said, his tone serious now.

"I know what you're thinking. I know where your head goes. But this isn't the place your dad met Lydia. This isn't even the same city. And you're not him, Kade. You're not going to see a woman on that stage and suddenly become a cheating alcoholic. That's not how this works."

"You don't know that."

"I know you," Ronan said firmly.

"I've known you since we were kids. You're the most disciplined, controlled, honorable person I've ever met. Sometimes to your own detriment."

"So no, I'm not worried about you making your father's mistakes. I'm worried about you being so terrified of them that you never make any choices at all."

The words hit harder than Kadence expected. Because Ronan was right. That's exactly what he'd been doing. Playing it safe.

Following the rules. Building walls so high that nothing could get in.

Nothing could hurt him.

But nothing could reach him either.

Kadence took a long drink of whiskey. It burned going down, which felt appropriate.

"One hour," he said again. A mantra. A lifeline.

"One hour," Ronan agreed.

***********

They were twenty minutes into that hour when it happened.

The lights dimmed. The music shifted.. slower now, more sensual. The stage lights blazed to life, red and gold and silver, and a voice came over the speakers:

"Gentlemen and ladies, please welcome to the stage... Cinder."

Applause rippled through the crowd. Men moved closer to the stage. Kadence stayed where he was, telling himself he wasn't curious, wasn't interested, wasn't.....

And then she appeared.

The world stopped.

Not metaphorically. Not poetically. The actual world stopped, like someone had pressed pause on reality itself.

She walked onto that stage, and Kadence's wolf slammed forward with so much force he nearly fell off his barstool.

MATE.

The word wasn't a thought. It was an earthquake. A hurricane. A forest fire consuming everything he'd ever known.

She was beautiful in a way that had nothing to do with the outfit she wore—though the shimmering silver fabric caught the light like moonbeams. Her dark hair fell in waves past her shoulders.

Her skin seemed to glow under the stage lights. But it was her eyes that destroyed him—amber and gold, like autumn captured in a human face.

And her scent.

Gods, her scent.

Honeysuckle and smoke. Wildflowers burning in summer heat. It hit him like a physical blow, bypassing every defense he'd ever built and wrapping around his lungs until he couldn't breathe.

The mate bond snapped into place between them with the force of a thunderclap.

His wolf howled in triumph. His body went rigid. Every nerve ending lit up like he'd been struck by lightning.

And then—worse than anything... she looked at him.

Across the crowded room, through the pulsing lights and moving bodies, her eyes found his. Locked. Held.

He saw her freeze mid-step. Saw confusion flicker across her face, then shock, then something that looked terrifyingly like recognition.

She felt it too?

His mate.

His fated mate.

The woman he'd been searching for for eight years.

Was a stripper.

Kadence's world tilted violently. His father's face flashed through his mind. Lydia. His mother's tears. The twins. The destruction.

The fears he had ran from all these years, it felt like a trick, everything flashed before his eyes, his whole life.... Everything he'd sworn he'd never become, never allow, never.....

"Kade?" Ronan's voice sounded like it was coming from underwater. "You okay? You look like you're about to pass out."

Kadence couldn't speak. Couldn't move. Could only stare at the woman on stage who was staring back at him with those impossible eyes.

This can't be happening.

But it was. The mate bond pulsed between them, undeniable and absolute. His wolf was going insane, demanding he go to her, claim her, complete the bond now.

And she was dancing. On a stage. In a club. Just like Lydia.

Just like the woman who'd destroyed his family.

"I have to go," Kadence said, his voice coming out strangled. He stood abruptly, nearly knocking over his drink.

"What? Kade—"