Chapter Five - Caught Unaware

[Xavier's POV]

‘I still can't believe you let them drag us out here, X,’ my wolf, Titus, grumbled from the dark depths of my mind.

I took a long sip of my drink and leaned back against the plush leather booth of the VIP balcony, hissing out in heavy irritation. The alcohol hit the back of my throat, burning for a faint second before my Lycan metabolism neutralized it into nothing.

"It's been over an hour and you're still irritated?" my female friend, Lena, said, crossing her arms over her chest, clearly displeased. She sat on the sofa facing me while resting her back against Brandon as he stroked her head to calm her down. Must they always do this in front of me? I rolled my eyes.

‘Can you let me out? How dare she speak to us like that after forcing us into this den of noise!’ Titus growled, his mood quickly shifting, clearly not pleased with her remark. His golden eyes flashed violently behind my eyelids, his claws scraping against the ribs of my consciousness.

A second later, I felt heavy stares on me from around the table. Guess Titus's growl had bled out of my chest and into the room. Well, I couldn't blame any of them.

After learning a massive, life-shattering secret about my own life earlier this morning, both my physical and mental health had taken a brutal hit. It felt like the ground beneath my feet had split wide open, leaving me floating in darkness. Titus had been affected just as badly, his mood swinging between dangerous, explosive rage and stone-cold silence.

And on my friends' side, they were just trying to cheer me up, including dragging me away from the pack house and dumping me into a noisy, scent-heavy human nightclub in Austin, far away from our territory. I sighed heavily.

"Titus at it again?" Flynn asked. When I gave no reply, he continued. "Don't forget we're at a human club," Flynn said, stretching the word out for emphasis, staring at me intently even though I didn't bother giving him a glance.

"And whose fault is that?" I asked, my voice laced with dark, sharp annoyance.

"Not us. And don't you dare blame us for wanting to cheer you up," Brandon voiced out after being quiet for most of the night, adjusting his jacket as his stern eyes met mine.

"Yeah," Nathan added, shaking his head with a grim sigh. "We're pretty much risking our lives here. If your father found out we brought you back into the human world, let alone a nightclub packed with human women, he’d have our heads mounted on pikes outside the pack hall."

"Stop talking about him," I growled softly, not taking my eyes off the amber liquid swirling in my crystal glass.

The rest of them quickly made themselves busy, sensing the dangerous edge in my tone.

My knuckles turned white against the glass as my mind went back to what happened this morning. I hadn't wanted to come here. Hell, I hadn't wanted to leave the pack house at all. But after the secret I had uncovered in my father’s private archives earlier this morning, my mind had been spinning completely out of control.

My four closest enforcers, Lena, Brandon, Flynn, and Nathan, had practically forced me into the SUV, insisting that a night away from pack duties and heavy expectations would clear my head. Well, only because I allowed them to.

‘Clear our head?’ Titus mocked, pacing back and forth inside my skull. ‘With synthetic hairspray, stale vodka, and human sweat? It’s suffocating, Xavier. Every smell in this room is weak, loud, and useless.’

‘Then shut your eyes and ignore it,’ I shot back internally, swirling the ice cubes in my glass. ‘I’m not in the mood for a lecture from you either. I came here to calm myself.’

‘You think brooding over cheap alcohol is going to change whatever we heard?’ Titus snapped back, his voice dropping into a low, rumbling

vibration that resonated through my spine. ‘Our future is done, X. Sitting in the dark surrounded by weaklings isn't going to fix it.’

He was right, but I just wasn't in the mood to admit it.

"Look at him," Lena whispered softly to Brandon, still leaning on him while keeping her voice low, hoping I wouldn't hear. Maybe she forgot I was just like her, only with far sharper senses and power. "He’s completely locked inside his own head. His eyes have been flashing from gold to blue since we got here. I'm worried," she added.

"Let him be, Lena," Brandon warned quietly, reaching out to take a drink. "When you hear that kind of truth, you're bound to be restless," he added, his tone sounding like he truly understood the weight on my shoulders.

I closed my eyes for a split second, taking a deep breath to force the dark, suffocating weight back down into my chest.

‘Something feels different,’ Titus said out of nowhere.

‘Like what? I can't feel anything,’ I answered him back, instantly becoming more attentive to my surroundings.

‘How can you? You're all miserable and wasting away,’ he said with rising anger. He paused. ‘The air... it just turned sour.’

Suddenly, I started hearing screams echoing from the lower floor. My eyes snapped open.

"Rogues!" Flynn said as the rest stood up on high alert. I stood up as we all looked down over the VIP railing.

"Not again," this time Lena voiced out, staring at me with worry visible in her eyes.

The sight that greeted us wasn't new to us, but it was definitely nothing to be pleased about. Dead bodies lay everywhere with blood splattered around, while the rest of the clubbers scattered in every direction, desperately trying to escape the massacre.

I closed my eyes, trying to calm both myself and my wolf. I stepped back, my eyes still closed. As I opened them back up, I could feel the aura in the room had changed violently. My friends quickly backed away, careful not to step too close to me.

‘This is the fourth time this month that they've caught you unaware! Why didn't you just kill the damn old man?!’ Titus reprimanded.

‘You're angry, and so am I,’ I sighed mentally. ‘But we can't act recklessly.’

‘Freezing not only time but us with it is definitely worth it. It's all your dad's fault,’ Titus growled while I remained quiet, my anger growing as I stared into nothingness, trying to control myself. ‘It'll continue to happen until you find your mate to awaken your full power! But guess what?’ He was too angered to even complete his words.

I breathed out, frustrated, knowing he was right.

‘Flynn. Brandon,’ I projected through the mind-link, my voice carrying the dark, unyielding resonance of a commanding Alpha. ‘Go sweep the area and alert me on whatever you find.’

I couldn't resist a small, petty flick of satisfaction inside my head. Separating those two mates mid-fight was a minor inconvenience for them, but why not? They had spent the whole night flaunting their bond right in my face while I was drowning in family secrets.

“Yes, Alpha,” Brandon and Flynn responded instantly in unison over the link, their tone shifting from relaxed friends to disciplined enforcers. They didn't dare question the command, especially since it wasn't just my voice echoing in their heads, but Titus’s heavy, rumbling growl underlying every syllable.

Sending them was pointless since they always did this and then disappeared, but I couldn't be too sure. The rest remained distant but still on guard waiting for my command.

‘Look down, X,’ Titus commanded out of nowhere, his voice suddenly cutting through his own anger. The rage in his tone evaporated into a sharp, hyper-focused edge. ‘Look down at the floor. Right now.’

I stepped up to the edge of the VIP balcony, resting my hands against the sleek glass railing as my gaze swept over the bloody wreckage below.

And then my eyes stopped.

Standing in the dead center of the cleared dance floor was a girl.

She stood out like a single flame in the room. She had long, silky raven-black hair that fell in soft waves past her shoulders, framing a pale, delicate face with sharp, captivating features. She was wearing a crimson satin dress that was so short and daring it was practically barely a dress at all, hugging every curve of her waist, her bare legs extending in a way that made my chest tighten instantly.

She looked entirely out of place amidst the gore and overturned furniture, clutching a phone with trembling hands, looking lost.

The moment her eyes locked onto mine, the rest of the world dissolved. Time itself seemed to stretch thin between us, anchoring my boots to the floorboards. A sharp, violent electric charge shot straight down my spine, knotting tight in my chest. Damn these hormones.

‘She’s staring back at us,’ Titus growled low in my head, but his tone wasn't admiring, it was laced with sudden, razor-sharp paranoia. ‘Look at her, X! She’s standing in the middle of a rogue massacre without a scratch on her. Okay, she's scared, but why remain standing?! She could be an enemy, a rogue scout masking her scent to catch us off guard! Definitely not human.’

‘Is she masking it?’ I thought back, my pulse hammering against my ribs as I refused to break eye contact. Her gaze was wide, breathless, and completely glued to mine. I could feel her confusion radiating across the distance, but Titus’s caution held me back.

‘Test her,’ Titus barked. ‘Freeze her right there!’

Without breaking our locked stare, I channeled my Alpha aura, pushing a silent wave of pressurized force directly down toward her spot on the floor.

Instantly, her posture locked up. Her feet glued to the hardwood floor, every muscle in her body rigid under the invisible weight of my command. She couldn't take a step backward, nor could she turn away from the balcony. She was completely frozen in place, trapped under the heavy, suffocating spell of my gaze as we stared at each other across the ruined club.

‘Look at those eyes, Xavier,’ Titus whispered, his tone shifting back into a breathless hum despite his suspicion. ‘She can't move a muscle... but she isn't taking her eyes off us either.’

I didn't answer him. I just stood at the railing, towering over the space, unable to look away from the raven-haired girl as the air between us burned with a silent, dangerous pull. I took a step closer.