NEMESIS

The neon sign outside “THE FULL MOON” bar flickered with a buzzing sound that usually meant a bulb was about to explode, but inside the air was a scent of cheap whiskey, expensive cigar smoke, and the musky pheromones of filthy restless werewolves.

“My name is ROXY” 

I stood backstage, leaning against a peeling locker watching Jax, adjust his glittery thong in the mirror. 

Jax was my best friend.

“Just a little here, and yup that’s it” He chuckled while dusting gold shimmers onto his pecs.

“Do I look like a snack, Rox?” Jax asked, pouting in his reflection. “Or a whole damn buffet?”

“You look like a lawsuit waiting to happen, Jax” I laughed reaching over to straighten his leather harness strapped across his broad chest.

“ But the Alphas in the front row are already drooling. You’ll make a killing in tips tonight.”

“And you?” He turned sharply, assessing me like a metal detector. 

I was basically wearing three pieces of matching black lace and a pair of red heels that were legally classified as lethal weapons.

“You’ve got that I’m going to eat you alive look in your eyes. Spill it, who’s the lusty mark?”

I checked the floor through the velvet curtain sighting a guy in a charcoal suit.

“Table four. He’s  been staring at the stage for an hour, smelling like old money and suppressed aggression.” I smirked “my Favourite combination.”

Ooh a broody one,” Jax chuckled slapping my hip affectionately. “Go get him, girl I’ve got the 10pm pole set. Don’t be too long, or I’ll have to start the show without my Favourite backup.”

“Okay hot tea” I teased and watched him leave the room.

Being a hoe paid the bills and kept me out of Pack politics and I was comfortable.

I stepped out from behind the curtain walking in the low lights and the bass of the music thumping in my chest.

As I got to table four, I let my hips swing, my tailbones buzzing with itch. 

The man in the suit didn’t look up until I was standing in front of his table. He was huge even for a wild wolf. His scent hit me like a physical wave of pure and unadulterated power. He was high ranking. Maybe  an Alpha from a traveling pack. 

“You look thirsty”, I purred, leaning over the table so the lace of my bodice did the talking. 

He looked up and his eyes were a piercing, icy, blue unusual for our kind. Most wolves had Amber or gold. These eyes were cold enough to freeze my blood, but the way he trailed them down my body was scorching hot.

“I am”, he said, his voice in a low gravelly rumble.

“But not for what’s in the glass.”

“Good” I whispered, sliding into the booth beside him. I didn’t wait. “Because the bar was closing its tab but I’m just getting started”

I leaned in closer letting my breath hitch the shell of his ear. I could smell his arousal from his light pants. 

I shifted my weight pressing my thigh against his. His dick was solid as a rock radiating heat through his expensive slacks. 

“What’s your name sweetheart?” He asked, tracing his bare hands from my waist to my thighs leaving me with sensational need. 

“Tonight? I’m whatever you want me to be,” I said my voice dropping to a sultry hum. I reached out my finger dancing up his chest feeling the heavy thud of his heart. It was fast. Even the big alphas couldn’t hide their biology from me. 

I leaned back just enough to look him in the eye, slowly licking lower lip.”But if you want the private lounge, it’ll cost more than just a glance.”

He didn’t say a word. He just grabbed my hand possessively and stood up. He tossed a stack of hundred-dollar bills on the table without looking at them and hauled me towards the back rooms.

The private lounge was small amd dim. The moment the door clicked shut.

He pinned me against the door, slowly breathing me in. He didn’t kiss me yet, but he slowly leaned enough that his nose was skimming the pulse point of my neck. 

I felt my canine teeth start to ache as I let out slight moans. 

“You have a lot of nerve, you little wolf,” he growled against my skin. Approaching an alpha like you own the place.

“I do own the place,” I panted, reaching down to tug at his tie as i scanned his neck looking for the alpha tattoo but there wasn’t any. 

“Now are you going to talk or are you going to show me why they call you alpha” I said schemingly disregarding the fact that I knew he wasn’t any alpha. 

I tugged him down, finally catching his lips with mine. It wasn’t a soft kiss. It was a collision. It tasted like whiskey and hunger. His tongue invaded my mouth making my toes curl in my heels. He groaned a deep animalistic sound that vibrated from his chest to mine. 

His hands travelled downward to my waist and further down to my buttcheeks giving it a soft squeeze making my nipples harden. He gripped my hips and lifted me effortlessly. I wrapped my legs around his waist. The lace of my panties was the only thing between us. I could feel his bulge tighten and his cock pressing against me, and I moved my hips in a slow torturous circle.

“God you’re a fire cracker,” he muttered, breaking the kiss to trail his lips down my throat to the swell of my already hardened breasts. He nipped at my red nipples, his teeth grazing hard enough to leave a mark. 

“Arhh, you’re so hot” I said seducingly 

I threw my head back wrapped in pleasure my finger clawing into his thick hair as he worked on my nipples softly. 

The heat in the room seemed to rise twenty degrees.

I reached for his belt, my breath coming in Short, jagged gasps. 

“Arrgh fuck” I moaned, I wanted to see him. I wanted to feel the skin-on-skin contact that usually calms but this time it was only making the beast louder.

“Wait,” he breathed, pulling back just an inch. His blue eyes were glowing now.

 “I didn’t come here for a dance, Roxy.”

I blinked, my head foggy with lust. “You know my name?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he reached into his inner jacket pockets and pulled out a small, heavy coin. It wasn’t money. It was Silver engraved with a weeping  Willow tree.

My heart stopped my wolf didn’t just go quiet. It whimpered and hid. 

“How?… who?…. What?…. I kept stammering lost in confusion and deep nostalgic fear. 

That coin belongs to the Silver Willow Pack, the

 most traditional blood tasty pack in the northern hemisphere. They didn’t visit bars. They didn’t hire  prostitutes.

“I'm no longer here for a thrill,” he said, his voice no longer lustful, but cold and professional. He set me down on my feet though he kept one hand firmly on my throat, not squeezing, but reminding me who was in control. 

“Then what do u want” I whispered with a shaking yet bold voice, my hand trembling as I tried to pull my lace bodice back into place. 

“I’m looking for a girl,” he said. “A girl who ran away from the Willow pack ten years ago. A girl with a birthmark on her inner thigh shaped like a crescent moon. A girl who was supposed  to be executed for treason.”

He slowly moved his gaze down to my legs. The room felt like it was spinning. I had that mark. I had spent years hiding it, covering it with tattoos, working in the shittiest bars in the city to stay under the radar.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, may….be you should check uh…mm the other strippers” 

I lied with a cracking voice and tried to cover my thighs with the bed sheets. 

Outside I heard the muffled sound of the music change. Jax’s set was starting. I could hear the crowd cheering for him. My best friend was out there, completely unaware that I was being hunted by a ghost from my past.

The strange man stepped closer, the silver coin cold against my skin as he pressed it into my palm. 

“Don’t lie to me, Princess,” he whispered, his blue eyes turning a terrifying, icy white. 

“I didn’t come here to kill you. I came here because the High Alpha is dead, and believe it or not…. You’re the only heir left.”

Before I could scream, the door to the private lounge flung open.

Jax stood there, his face pale, his golden shimmer covered in blood. He wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t posing. 

“Roxy, run!!” Jax screamed, his voice breaking and trembling. “Theyre here! The hunters….they found the bar!”