The Alpha Wants You

Audrey's POV 

“The Alpha wants you in the red room tonight.” 

Madame Bertha stood in the doorway with her red lips pressed into something that wasn't quite a smile.

She only ever looked like that when she wanted something she knew you wouldn't want to give.

“The… Alpha?” I echoed, barely trusting my own voice.

Around me, the changing room fell into stunned silence.

A girl halfway through curling her hair froze. 

Someone else knocked over a bottle of expensive perfume, the sweet floral scent spreading across the wooden floor. 

No one bent to clean it. Even the usual chatter died as every pair of eyes landed on Madame Bertha.

I set down my mascara wand very slowly. "Why would the Alpha want me?”

"That's not my business, sweetheart." Madame Betha stepped fully into the room. 

She was a tall woman even without heels, and her large breasts were straining through the overly tight shirt she wore. It was her signature look. 

Her hand came to rest on my shoulders and she grinned. “My business is to make sure my clients are satisfied. And Kairos Thornheart is a very important client.”

My heartbeat stumbled.

For the first time in a long while, I genuinely didn’t know what to say.

The girls at Bertha’s Place liked to joke that I possessed a sixth sense. They called me ‘four eyes’.

Not because I wore glasses since I didn’t. It was because I always saw trouble coming before anyone else did.

I avoided violent customers and drunken fights. Survival depended on instincts and tonight…

Those instincts were screaming.

I knew Kairos Thornheart. You didn't work in a place like Bertha's Place and not hear the stories.

He was the Alpha who dismembered a man for spilling wine on his suit. The Alpha whose name preceded him and not for good things. 

"Madame." I stood up, keeping my voice respectful. "You know more about that man than we do. He's a monster and yet you'll send me to-”

Bertha grabbed my face, leaning forward to whisper into my ear. “It's just for one night, Audrey. Besides, he paid enough tonight to cover this club's expenses for the next three months.”

Her lips curled into a snide smile as she looked at me through the mirror. “Whatever your reservations are, I suggest you bury them."

I searched Bertha’s face for even the smallest sign that she was joking. But there was nothing. 

Her eyes were as cold and calculating as ever, already counting the money she had made from selling my night. 

My stomach tightened. 

There would be no arguing my way out of this.

“Put on your mask.” She said as she released my chin. “He's waiting for you.” 

I rubbed my aching jaw, trying not to let the humiliation show.

There was no point begging. Girls who begged Bertha only made things worse for themselves.

She had rescued most of us once. She fed and clothed us… even gave us work when no one else would.

When she turned to the rest of the girls, they straightened instantly. 

“The rest of you, look alive! I want those ass jiggling and men drooling,” she pointed to the blonde beside me. “And for Goddess’ sake, fix your fucking voice, Lily. Two of the customers have already complained.”

She left the room and for a moment, nobody spoke. Dalia walked over and squeezed my shoulder.

“I had no idea the Alpha even comes here,” she whispered and shook her head. “How are we just finding out?

Lily shook her head while applying her lipgloss, her breasts nearly spilling from her bra. “I've seen him at the club once or twice.”

The entire room, including myself, turned to face her and she raised her hand in the air. 

“What?” she screeched. “Not met. I wasn’t stupid enough to go near him.”

Bella rolled her eyes as she came to my side. “Forget Lily, you need to survive the night first.”

She pressed something small and cool into my palm without a word. I looked down to see a small transparent box with a needle inside. 

"It's silver laced," she murmured. "One jab will knock him right out, it doesn't matter how big he is."

I closed my fingers around it. "Thank you."

“Don't mention. We have to look out for ourselves one way or the other.” She gripped my arm tightly. "Don't let him hear you trembling, it will only excite him.”

I nodded then I put on my mask. It was made of ivory porcelain and only covered the top half of my face, leaving my mouth visible.

Ice worn it every night for two years. It hid only the upper half of my face, but somehow it made pretending easier.

With it on… I wasn’t Audrey.

I was simply another fantasy men paid to borrow for a few hours.

After one slow breath, I stepped out of the changing room. The girls wished me luck as I left but my heart wouldn’t stop pounding.

The red room was below the club, it was an exclusive area meant for only high-paying clients. The kind that wouldn't mind spending hundreds of dollars just for a night of pleasure. 

I never expected the Alpha to be that kind of person. 

I pushed open the heavy door to the room, the thump of bass from the club below vibrating through my heels. 

The air inside was thick with the scent of aged whiskey and leather, dimly lit by crimson sconces that cast flickering shadows across the velvet walls. 

Kairos Thornheart sat in a red couch near the window with one ankle crossed over his knee, a glass of whiskey in his hand. 

He wasn't what I expected. I imagined he was older with an angled and monstrous looking face. 

But this man had dark hair, a sharp jaw and amber eyes that locked onto me immediately.

The sight of his broad shoulders and muscular frame made my thighs clench together. 

But it was the intensity in his eyes, the way he stared at me like he wanted to devour me. 

“Finally,” he said, his deep voice cutting through the silence.

He rose from the couch in one smooth movement, towering over me. Every instinct screamed at me to run, yet my feet refused to move.

Those amber eyes studied me with unsettling familiarity, as though he had been searching for me for years.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this.”

My pulse stumbled. Waiting… for me?

Before I could ask what he meant, he took one deliberate step closer.

The door clicked shut behind me.

And suddenly, I wasn’t sure whether I had just walked into the most dangerous night of my life…

…or the beginning of a fate I could never escape.