Chapter 2 Three Thousand Dollars

Leo

I never expected that this night would turn into one of the most confusing and infuriating encounters of my existence. As Alpha of the Shadow Pack, I'd agreed to meet with Enzo Howlthorne at my club to finalize our arrangement—five million dollars of gambling debt to be settled with something far more valuable.

He presented me with a photo of his half-sister, Victoria — a newly turned eighteen-year-old hybrid wolf. Beautiful. Pure. With noble Alpha blood in her veins. Enzo described her as unshifted, soft-natured, and obedient by default. In his words, she would make the perfect, well-behaved little sex slave.

Yet the woman approaching me at the bar looked nothing like the demure virgin I'd been promised. She was breathtaking. Curves poured into a little black dress that barely covered what mattered, long chestnut hair cascading down her back, and those eyes—wide, innocent, yet burning with determination. She moved like she owned the place, sliding onto the stool beside me and crossing those impossibly long legs.

"Buy a girl a drink?" she purred, leaning forward to give me a perfect view of her cleavage.

My wolf howled in approval. Mine. She's already ours. What game is she playing?

I kept my composure, though my blood was already heating. "Shouldn't you be in college studying for finals?" I asked, allowing myself to study her more carefully. Her scent was intoxicating—pure, untouched, yet somehow bold and defiant.

"It's my birthday," she said with a smile that made my cock twitch. "I'm celebrating... survival."

Birthday. Eighteen. The age when she'd legally become mine according to our arrangement. Was this some kind of test? Did Enzo send her here to see if I'd recognize her?

When she touched my hand, electricity sparked between us. The connection was undeniable—this was my mate, whether she knew it or not. But she clearly had no idea who I was, which meant...

"Your hands look like they could hurt me," she whispered, tracing my knuckles.

"Only if you ask nicely," I responded, my voice rougher than intended as my wolf clawed for control.

The way she bit her lip nearly broke my restraint. This wasn't the sheltered Alpha's daughter Enzo had described. This was a woman on a mission, and suddenly I was very interested in discovering what that mission was.

"I'm Victoria," she said, extending her hand.

I hesitated before taking it, knowing that touch would only intensify our connection. "Leo," I replied, using my given name rather than my full title. Let her believe I was just another man in a club. For now.

When she pressed against me on the dance floor, her perfect ass grinding against my growing hardness, I nearly lost it. "What game are you playing, little wolf?" I whispered against her ear, unable to stop myself from using the endearment.

And then she handed me a hotel key card. Room 1503. Fifteen minutes.

I should have walked away. I should have called Enzo right then and demanded an explanation. Instead, I found myself counting down the minutes, my wolf pacing restlessly inside me.

When I knocked on her door exactly fifteen minutes later, the scent of her arousal hit me like a physical blow. She looked up at me with those wide eyes, and I gave her one last chance to back out.

"I don't want to back out," she whispered, rising on her tiptoes. "I want you to fuck me, Leo."

My control shattered. I'd spent years mastering my Alpha instincts, but one request from those sweet lips and I was undone. Her skin was silk beneath my fingers as I traced up her thigh, teasing the edge of her panties. She was already wet for me, her scent driving me wild.

"You smell sweet," I growled, burying my face in her neck to inhale more of her intoxicating aroma. When she climbed onto my lap, grinding against my painfully hard cock, I nearly took her right there.

She breathed against my ear. "I'm all yours tonight."

All mine. The irony wasn't lost on me. She had no idea she'd already been promised to me—that by tomorrow, she'd officially belong to me according to the agreement with her brother. And here she was, offering herself freely.

"Be careful what you ask for, little wolf," I whispered against her lips. "I might just ruin you for anyone else."

"Leo," she moaned, her nails digging into my shoulders as I filled her completely. "Oh god, Leo."

Her inexperience was obvious, but her enthusiasm made up for it.Because the moment I slid into her tight, wet heat and felt her barrier give way, something primal and possessive took over.

I took my time, watching her face as she experienced each new sensation. When I hooked her legs over my arms and drove deeper, her eyes widened in shocked pleasure.

"Is this what you wanted?" I growled, maintaining a punishing rhythm. "To give yourself to a stranger? "

She looked confused for a moment, but then her eyes rolled back as a particularly deep thrust hit the perfect spot. "Yes," she gasped. "I don't want to be sold to some—ah!—thirty-two-year-old monster."

The words hit me like a bucket of ice water. Thirty-two-year-old monster. Is that what she thought of me? What Enzo had told her?

Something dark and angry unfurled in my chest. She was here to ruin herself before being handed over to me—not knowing she was currently beneath the very man she was trying to escape.

"Do I feel like a monster to you now?" I growled, increasing my pace, determined to make her scream my name.

"No," she gasped, her inner walls clenching around me. "You feel... amazing."

I flipped her onto her hands and knees, taking her from behind the way my wolf demanded. The sight of her submission, her perfect ass raised for me, her back arched as she pushed back against me—it was the most erotic thing I'd ever seen.

"You're mine," I found myself saying as I pounded into her. "Say it."

"I'm yours," she moaned, not understanding the truth behind the words. "Yours, Leo."

Jealousy twisted in my gut—jealousy of myself, as absurd as that sounded. She was giving herself to me to avoid being given to... me. The irony would have been amusing if I wasn't so consumed with possessing her completely.

When her inner walls began to pulse around my cock, I knew she was close. I reached around to circle her clit with my thumb, and she came with a cry that would haunt my dreams—back arched, eyes rolled back, my name on her lips like a prayer. The sight pushed me over the edge, and I emptied myself deep inside her, marking her as mine in the most primitive way.

Afterward, I pulled her against my chest, kissing her deeply. My wolf was satisfied but wanted more—wanted to keep her here, to take her again and again until she couldn't remember ever wanting to escape me.

"That was..." she whispered against my lips.

"Just the beginning," I promised, already hardening again inside her.

Her eyes widened in surprise and delight. We were just getting started when my phone rang, the specific tone telling me it was an emergency. I cursed, reaching for it while keeping Victoria pinned beneath me.

It was Beta Tiny's number. I silenced it immediately, but the spell had been broken. Victoria suddenly seemed to remember herself, slipping out from under me with remarkable agility for someone who'd just lost her virginity.

I watched, perplexed, as she hurriedly dressed and then—to my utter disbelief—reached into her purse and pulled out a stack of bills.

"Two thousand should cover it, right?" she said, placing the money on the nightstand. "You were amazing."

My brain short-circuited. "Cover what?"

She paused, studying my expression with sudden uncertainty. Then, as if coming to some conclusion, she pulled out another thousand dollars and carefully arranged the bills in a neat stack.

"Three thousand total," she said, her voice gentle now, almost apologetic. "That's fair, isn't it? You're clearly the best in your field."

The realization hit me like a physical blow. She thought I was a prostitute. A fucking male escort. The woman promised to me as payment for her brother's debt had just paid me for sex.

I couldn't help it—a cold laugh escaped me. "You think I'm for hire?"

Her eyes widened slightly. "Aren't you? I mean... at the club... the way you looked at me..."

"I'm many things, Victoria," I said slowly, rising from the bed in all my naked glory, enjoying how her eyes couldn't help but track down my body. "But a whore isn't one of them."

Confusion and embarrassment colored her cheeks. She backed toward the door. "I'm sorry, I just assumed... Look, keep the money anyway. Consider it a gift for... making my first time special."

Before I could stop her, she had slipped out the door, leaving me standing naked with three thousand dollars on the nightstand and a rage building inside me that threatened to consume everything in its path.

My phone rang again. This time I answered it, seeing Enzo's name on the screen.

"You better have a damn good explanation for this," I snarled into the phone.

"For what?" Enzo's pathetic voice quavered. "Is something wrong with the arrangement?"

"Be in my office tomorrow morning," I ordered. "Nine AM sharp. And Enzo? If you're even a minute late, I'll tear out your throat myself."

I ended the call and stared at the neatly stacked bills on the nightstand. Victoria Howlthorne had no idea what she'd just done—or who I really was. But tomorrow, when she was officially handed over to Alpha Moretti as payment for her brother's debt, she would learn exactly who she had given her virginity to.

And I would make damn sure she never forgot who she belonged to again.