Chapter 10 Bar Meet with the Billionaire Alpha

Angel’s POV

The club was playing a bass tune when I arrived. It was a little bit crowded, filled with faces I didn’t recognize. The unfamiliarity of it made me feel at ease. For once, I wasn't surrounded with anyone who would judge me.

 I came here to unwind and temporarily forget my current situation. With everything that had recently happened in my life, this date was long overdue.

After a light drink, I decided to check up on Dana. She answered my call on the fourth ring.

“Hey Dana, How are you holding up?”

Her voice was heavy. I could hear the strain in it, like she had been crying earlier. She sniffed then took a deep sigh, “I’m okay. How you are doing? ”

“I’m good.” I paused, then continued “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, don’t worry about me. ”she responded, but I knew Dana better than anyone. She was most definitely not fine.

“Is it your mate? What did he do? I’ll call him and teach him a lesson.” 

“No, do not call him.” she snapped

“Well then tell me whats wrong.” I said

After a long pause, she said quietly, “Not really. Angel… Being an Omega is harder than I thought.”

My heart tightened. “Oh Dana. What happened?”

She hesitated, then recounted her situation.

Her mate had begun snapping at her over the smallest things. Today, he yelled because she’d forgotten to warm his lunch. Yesterday, he accused her of “acting superior” when she simply asked him to lower his voice. Last week, he’d ignored her completely for two days straight, a silent punishment she didn’t even understand the reason for.

And beyond her home, the pack wolves, those who used to greet her politely when she was a respected warrior, now threw her pitying glance, some contemptuous ones. A few young female wolves even whispered openly about how she “lost her worth the moment she lost her wolf.”

I clenched the phone harder. “I’m really sorry… if it werent for me, you wouldn't have been…an omega. You protected me.”

She replied weakly. “No, its not your fault. I’m your sister.”

Understanding her situation wasn’t hard, because that reality had become mine, too.

She added gently, “Angel… I know it’s been rough for you too. I mean, you still haven’t started your job. If you need money, I can transfer some…”

“No.” My voice softened. “You need it more than I do.”

“Angel…”

“Dana, you’re recovering. You shouldn’t worry about me.”

But I was touched, painfully so. She had so little now, yet still wanted to give me everything. And I… I had nothing left except determination.

When the call ended, I stared into my drink, the ice clinking softly as it melted.

Dana’s struggles weren’t just about her rank. They were about the power imbalance Bastien had always manipulated.

 He helped her over the years, yes, helped our whole family, but now that I looked back, his kindness had never been simple kindness.

 It was always tied to something, leverage, an unspoken expectation. My family’s influence had been useful to him once.

 Now?

 It wasn’t. And since Lilian’s return, I had been treated as if I simply didn’t exist.

I was once a Luna but now had been relegated to a shadow.

 Had it not been for Bastien’s mother, I knew the other female wolves would have chewed me apart with gossip and disdain long ago.

Dana was right in urging me to leave my past and have nothing to do with it. Bastien’s coldness had become a habit. His neglect, a constant routine.

 I could not, would not  keep clinging to memories of a man who looked through me like air.

I finished my drink. Then another.

As the alcohol warmed my chest, I promised myself that I would work harder and earn more money. That I will take care of Dana and disapprove all who want to see me fail.

I was deep in that thought when a shadow fell across my table.

“Someone ordered this for you,” the waiter said, placing a fresh drink down.

I glanced up just as a stranger slid into the seat beside me, though calling him a mere stranger felt inadequate. 

He had the kind of presence that made him an instant center of attention. Broad shoulders beneath a leather jacket, a strong jawline dusted with faint stubble, dark eyes that were intense. His hair was slightly tousled, wild in an attractive way.

He was rough around the edges. Intimidating but quiet. A man who didn’t need to announce himself to be noticed.

His voice was low, calm. “You looked like someone who needed a stronger drink.”

I let out a humorless breath. “What gave it away?”

“The way you’re gripping your glass,” he said simply. “Like you’re trying to crush it with your fingertips.”

I stared at him, stunned. “You’re very observant.”

“Its from experience. I’ve seen that look before,” he replied. “ On people who’ve been through too much.”

He didn’t pry or press. He just sat there, patient, like he intended to stay only if I let him.

I turned my gaze toward the dance floor, where the lights shone across bodies swaying to the music.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked gently.

“Ridiculous past times,” I said, the words slipping out before I could stop them. Alcohol had made me more open than I usually allowed myself to be.

My mind wandered where it shouldn’t, into the past memories of Bastien before everything shattered.

Like the night I had danced for him in the mansion’s courtyard. I had practiced the whole afternoon, wanting to impress him. But when the music began and I moved to the rhythm, Bastien barely looked up from his phone.

His first response had been a frown.

“You don’t need to please me,” he’d said flatly. “If you don’t want to dance, don’t force yourself.”

I had frozen mid-step, ashamed. The memory stung even now.

I swallowed, glancing at the stranger beside me. On a sudden impulse, and perhaps a desire to test myself,  I swayed a little to the music and murmured, “Does it look good?”

He answered with a smile.

“You don’t have to perform for anyone.” He leaned back slightly. “But if you want to dance… you can do it here. You don’t need a stage.”

I blinked, startled. “Here? There are too many people…”

“Crowds make you uncomfortable?”

I nodded slightly. “The last time I danced for someone, I got laughed at.”

Something in his expression shifted.

Without warning, he raised his hand. The waiter hurried over. 

“This is for your service.” He tipped the waiter generously.

“Thank you!” The man smiled from cheek to cheek.

“Now clear the floor,” he said.

The waiter’s eyes widened. “The whole of it?”

He nodded.

Within moments, the staff sprang into action. The host took the microphone and announced.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have VIP guests arriving. Please step outside for five minutes. You’ll receive a complimentary voucher on your way out.”

People murmured, surprised but compliant, definitely lured by the compensation. One by one, they filed out as the waiters handed out the compensation.

The club, once packed, had emptied entirely.

I stared in disbelief. “You… cleared the whole place?”

He shrugged slightly. “You needed an empty space to dance. And you said the crowd made you shy. Now there’s no crowd.”

My breath caught, stunned at his sheer generosity and charisma.