Chapter 2

Arlo Arithon didn’t do clubs. He didn’t do noise, sweaty bodies, or cheap perfume but here he was, sprawled in a plush, dark leather booth under purple neon lights because his Beta, Briar, said this club had connections.

“You’ll thank me,” Briar had grinned.

Arlo didn’t see it.

He sat with his arms folded, suit jacket open, shirt collar unbuttoned, and an expression carved from stone. Across the floor, wolves and humans danced like the full moon had already driven them mad. The bass thumped like a second heartbeat in his chest.

“I don’t know why I let you drag me here,” Arlo muttered, his voice low.

Briar took a sip from his glass and smirked. “Because you’ve been obsessing over that Lunaris Lineage deal like a wolf in heat. You needed to blow ff steam.”

But tonight, Briar had dragged him into The Den with a cocky grin and a shot glass.

“You need this,” his Beta had said. “You’ve been in ‘Alpha business mode’ for too long.”

“I’m always in Alpha mode,” Arlo growled, loosening the collar of his shirt as the music pulsed through the walls. “Unlike you, I don’t have time to chase tail.”

Briar only smirked. “This tail might just change your mind.”

Arlo sank into a leather booth in the club’s shadowy corner. Everything around him was a blur of bodies, flashing lights, and pheromones. But even through the chaos, something pricked at his senses, a whisper in his blood.

His wolf, Kael, stirred restlessly. 'Something’s here. Someone.'

Arlo’s fingers tightened on his glass.

And then the stage lights shifted. The music slowed, the crowd hushed, and a figure stepped into the center of it all.

She moved like smoke...slow, fluid, dangerous. Her skin gleamed like bronze lit by starlight. Black curls spilled down her back, wild and untamed. She wore a bodysuit that clung to every curve, leaving very little to the imagination and yet everything about her screamed: untouchable.

Her eyes, golden and amber, burning through the dark and scanned the room like a predator.

Then they landed on him. The world narrowed. It was only a second. Maybe less but when their eyes met, Arlo forgot how to breathe.

Mine.

Kael’s voice ripped through him like a growl inside his skull.

No, Arlo answered silently, shaking it off. We don’t do this. We don’t claim strippers.

"She’s not just a stripper." He hated how his wolf sounded right.

"The woman—Bells," Briar whispered, turned, arching her back but he didn't hear, one leg sliding out in a move that had the crowd howling. But Arlo couldn’t look away from her face. Not her body. Not the hips or legs or perfect chest. Just... her.

She was composed. Powerful. And deeply uninterested in pleasing anyone.

Especially him.

“I want her,” Arlo said quietly. “Who is she?” Arlo asked before he could stop himself.

Briar raised an eyebrow. “That’s Bells. She’s a regular. Doesn’t talk much. Doesn’t mingle. And rumor says, she doesn’t go home with anyone.”

Arlo’s wolf stirred, its presence rising in his chest like a sudden breath of heat.

“She’s not just some dancer,” Arlo murmured. “There’s something…”

“Different?” Briar chuckled. “Yeah, a few people have said that. Some think she’s half-witch, half-fae. I think she’s just hot as hell.”

Arlo’s jaw flexed. “I want a private dance.”

Briar coughed on his drink. “You serious?”

“She looked at me.”

Briar gave a low whistle. “ She looks at everybody but Alright, Alpha. Let me see what I can do.”

“Not like that.”

Briar sighed. “Fine. I’ll set it up. Try not to mate her on sight.”

.

Ten minutes later, Arlo sat alone in a velvet-lined room, trying not to think about why his palms were damp or why his heartbeat had decided to run a marathon in his chest.

"This is stupid."

"No," Kael snarled. "She’s ours. You feel it too."

Arlo scowled at nothing. “Shut up.”

Then, she entered. Not with a smile. Not with a flirt. She didn’t glide in seductively or play coy.

She walked in like she didn’t owe him a damn thing. Arlo stood before he realized he’d moved. She stopped a few feet from him, arms crossed over her stomach, one eyebrow arched.

“You asked for me,” she said.

Her voice. Holy hell. It was smooth and warm like honey sliding across skin, but her tone was cold. Detached.

“You looked at me,” he said.

“I look at a lot of people.”

“Not like that.”

She tilted her head. “You think a look means something? This is a club. You bought ten minutes. Use them.”

Arlo frowned. “I’m not here for a quick grind. I just wanted to know who you are.”

“You don’t get to know that.”

He stepped forward, slowly, reading her like prey. But she didn’t flinch. Didn’t back up. Her chin lifted a little higher.

“What do they call you?”

She hesitated. “Bells.”

“And your real name?”

A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “You think I give that away because you look pretty in a suit?”

His lips quirked. “So you do think I’m pretty.”

“I think you talk too much.”

Then, without warning, she closed the space between them. One hand slid up his chest, her body brushing his lightly but intentionally. Not for seduction. For dominance.

“You paid,” she whispered, voice like a dagger wrapped in velvet. “So sit down and use your time wisely.”

Arlo’s mouth went dry. He sat.

She straddled his lap, legs curling around his thighs like silk ropes. Her eyes never left his. Her body began to move slow, steady, deliberate.

But it wasn’t the kind of dance meant to arouse. It was a test. A challenge. A dare.

'Touch her,' Kael growled.

Arlo’s hands stayed glued to the seat. “You don’t smell like the others,” he murmured.

“No,” she said, voice low. “I’m not like the others.”

He leaned in a fraction. “What are you hiding, Bells?”

Her eyes flashed, and for one terrifying second, he swore he saw pain, deep, bone-level pain in them.

“Don’t ask questions you’re not ready to answer.”

“I’m an Alpha. I don’t fear answers.”

“You should because I'm not human but I am an omega, nothing to excite you.”

She pulled back suddenly, her breath shallow. The heat between them had shifted, still electric, still burning but now charged with something darker. More dangerous.

“Omega...You ever dream of someone before you meet them?” he asked.

She froze.

Bingo.

“I’ve seen you before,” he continued. “In dreams. That scent. Those eyes. I’ve felt them.”

“You don’t know me.”

“Then why are your hands shaking?”

She looked down. They were. She swore softly under her breath and climbed off him. “Your time’s up.”

“I don’t want it to be.”

“It doesn’t matter what you want.”

He stood, blocking the exit. “Don’t walk away.”

Her eyes locked with his, fierce and unflinching. “Do not try to Alpha me.”

“I’m not trying. I am the Alpha.”

“Then act like one and let me go.”

"Don’t," Kael snarled inside him. "She’s ours. Stop her."

Arlo’s hand twitched but he stepped aside.

She slipped past him, her arm brushing his. Electricity jolted through both of them. She paused.

Looked up at him.

“I’m not yours,” she whispered, but her voice cracked.

Then she was gone.

.

.

Outside the room, Briar watched him approach like a hawk. “Well?”

“She said no.”

Briar blinked. “Wait… she turned you down?”

Arlo didn’t answer. He just stared at the stage.

Another dancer had replaced her, but the room felt hollow now. Quieter. Duller.

Because the fire had left and it had taken something inside him with it.

'You saw her,' Kael whispered. You felt her.

Arlo’s jaw clenched. “I need to know who she is.”

Briar raised an eyebrow. “You’re gonna chase a stripper now?”

“She’s not just a stripper. She said she's an omega but I couldn't get that scent,"

“Right. And I’m not just a Beta. I can sense she's an omega,"

Arlo turned his gaze back to the hallway where she disappeared. His heart beat faster than it had in years. His wolf growled.

And for the first time since he was a boy, Arlo felt truly, completely...hungry and also felt like he wasn’t in control.

He was hunted.