Three

CHAPTER THREE - CATHERINE'S POV 

"Another shot?"

"No, I need the whole damn bottle."

"We don't do that here."

I'd never tasted alcohol before tonight, but then again, I'd never run from my own wedding before either. The Las Vegas hotel bar glittered around me, all chrome and glass and beautiful people who didn't look like me. I was still in my wedding dress, the massive white thing taking up two bar stools. 

The corset dug into my ribs where I'd shoved the honeymoon tickets earlier, my only act of defiance before fleeing even after Luna had stopped me and attempted to bully me into staying. She had repeated the usual insults:  Fat. Unstable. Broken Anderson now a runaway bride.

I downed another shot with shaking hands, welcoming the burn.

"Give the lady whatever she wants."

The voice behind me made my barely-there wolf stir for the first time in weeks—a weak, confused whimper that shocked me after years of silence.

The bartender practically threw the bottle at me, hands shaking as he bowed nervously before disappearing to the other end of the bar. What the hell?

"A gorgeous bride you make, I must say." The man moved to the stool beside me, and the air shifted into something more sizzling and powerful. "But why isn't the groom making your orders for you?"

I forced a laugh, trying to sound casual. "There's no groom. Just a girl cosplaying as a runaway bride. Roleplaying for fun."

"Is that so?" His voice dropped lower, intimate, and something in my core clenched hard. "Seems fate is on our side then, seeing as I'm dressed like a jilted groom myself."

I finally looked at him.

"Oh."

He was older, maybe late forties, with black hair streaked silver at the temples. But age hadn't softened him. If anything, it had carved him into something devastatingly tall, broad-shouldered, with a face that made my mouth go dry and my thighs press together involuntarily. His tuxedo fit perfectly, tailored to a body that radiated raw power.

But it was his eyes that trapped me. Power lurked somewhere behind his deep brown eyes—dark, predatory, and hungry in a way that scared me and pulled at something deep inside me.

My wolf purred. Actually purred. She hadn't done that in years.

"I'm Dave." He reached for my hand. "May I?"

I nodded, unable to form words.

He lifted my hand to his lips, and the kiss he pressed to my knuckles sent liquid heat straight between my legs. His mouth was warm, soft, and he held my gaze while he did it, making it clear this wasn't politeness.

This was flirting.

"And you are?"

"Catherine." My voice came out breathy. "Catherine Vale."

"Catherine Vale." He said my name like he was tasting it, rolling it on his tongue. His thumb stroked the inside of my wrist, right over my pulse point, and I knew he could feel how fast my heart was racing. "Tell me, Catherine Vale, what kind of fool lets a woman like you run?"

A woman like you?

Not a woman like me. He must be mistaken. Women like me didn't get looked at like this. We got pity, disgust, and tolerance at best.

"The smart kind, probably." I pulled my hand back, hating the loss of contact immediately. "I'm not exactly a prize catch. I'm—" Fat. Crazy. About to go rogue. "It's complicated."

"You're shaking." He moved closer, and his scent wrapped around me. Wolf, definitely alpha, but underneath something else. Something that made my skin feel too tight and my wolf beg for things I didn't understand. "When's the last time you ate?"

"I don't—" I couldn't remember. This morning? Yesterday? Dr. Selene had me on a strict diet. Said my metabolism was broken like the rest of me.

"You're coming with me." It wasn't a question. He stood, placed his hand on the small of my back, and the touch burned through the layers of fabric.

"I don't even know you."

"You know enough." His hand slid lower, almost possessive, and heat pooled between my thighs.

My phone buzzed but I ignored it. Whoever it was could wait. For the first time in seven years, I wanted something for myself.

"I have episodes," I blurted out, needing him to know before this went further. "I need medication or I'll go rogue. I'm broken. You should—"

"You're not going anywhere near whoever puts that fear in you." His voice went hard, dangerous. "And you're not broken."

My wolf surged. The sensation was so sudden, so unexpected, I gasped. Heat flooded my body, need clawing through my veins. I'd never felt heat before, never felt my wolf this strong. Dr. Selene said my wolf was too damaged, that I'd never experience a true cycle.

But this—this was unmistakable.

"Fuck." Dave's eyes went black. Full black, then shifted into a blazing red like he was fighting something inside his body. His grip on my back tightened. "You're going into heat."

"I can't. I don't. I'm not supposed to—"

"When's the last time you shifted?"

"My doctor said I can't, that I'd lose control—"

"Your doctor is a fucking liar." He pulled me off the stool, and I stumbled into his hard and solid chest. "You're coming with me before every alpha in this hotel tries to claim what's mine."

Mine.

He swept me into his arms like I weighed nothing, and I gasped. No one had ever carried me. I was too heavy, too much, too—

"Stop thinking." His mouth was at my ear. "I can smell your self-doubt and it's pissing me off. You're perfect exactly as you are, and I'm going to spend the rest of the night proving it."

He walked toward the elevator, and I should have protested. Should have been smart. Should have run back to the Anderson estate and done what I was supposed to do.

But I'd already died twice doing what I was supposed to do.

Maybe it was time I chose something different.

The elevator doors closed behind us. Dave pressed me against the wall, his body caging mine, and the heat between us was suffocating in the best way.

"Last chance, Catherine." His hand slid up my thigh, bunching the wedding dress. "Tell me to stop."

I should have been smart But my wolf was singing and for the first time in seven years, I felt alive.

"Don't stop." I pulled him down, desperate, reckless. "Please don't stop."

His mouth crashed into mine, and the world ignited.