Desired, True Alpha 1

Lucas leaned his elbows back on the bar and pulled in a full draught of the human pheromones and perfumes swirling in the air. Musky fragrances mixed with sweet sweat, underscored by a tangy taste of arousal. And that was just the women. The males were overly scented as well, at least the human ones as if they didn’t understand the power of their natural scent. The blue-neon sign outside the nightclub called it The Deviation. Inside, lithe human bodies pulsed to a techno-rock beat coming from the live band on the stage. It was a ripe hunting ground for shifters and humans alike. Prey, his inner dark wolf panted, but Lucas backhanded that thought into the recesses of his mind. He may be hunting for a pleasurable companion for the evening, a temporary relief from the ghosts that haunted him, but he wasn’t that kind of predator.

Not that there weren’t plenty of those in the room.

This was neutral territory. He was rogue now, but even if he had a pack, he wouldn’t make trouble in a closed environment filled with humans like The Deviation. The throng pushed right up to the bar where he stood, leaving not much distinction between those dancing and those watching. Cutout panels behind the band let in beams of purplish light that stabbed through the tight crowd and washed everyone in a deep otherworldly glow. The shifters were indistinguishable from the humans, everyone dressed in the same tailored silk shirts and curve-hugging black dresses that comprised the nighttime uniform of web entrepreneurs and their groupies.

Indistinguishable for most. But Lucas recognized a few.

Three shifters from the SocialHacks pack were in the thick of the dancing, hands running free over their female companions. His father’s pack allied with the SocialHacks early on, their social media startup pairing well with his father’s internet business development firm. Nearby was a trio from Red Wolf, another company that cultivated the dot-com businesses of Seattle and helped match them with investors. They were his father’s bitter rivals—not only did they skate close to that invisible line shifters didn’t cross, the one that kept the normal human citizenry of Seattle unaware of the wolves in their midst, but they were as ruthless in pack matters as they were in business. Lucas had seen more than one omega from the Red pack end up in a dingy alley missing a few vital organs. Tonight, the Red pack was hanging at the fringes of the crowd, watching like Lucas.

But that was all they had in common.

“How are you doing here, sir?” The soft voice behind him belonged to the female bartender. He could tell by her scent before he turned around: slightly musky with the dampness of the nightclub, but with a light woodsy taste. It wasn’t a perfume, which Lucas had an instant appreciation for.

He turned and smiled at her. “I’d like another, please. Vodka, neat.” She wasn’t one of the celebrity bartenders who drew patrons to The Deviation, but he wasn’t the type to drink the latest fad cocktail, either. He rarely was in a club long enough to finish a drink before a companion for the night found him. And having full command of his faculties, especially with a human, was key to leaving her satisfied, not sliced to ribbons.