Chapter 6 Wolf's Den

Mia and I quickly retreated to my parents' house to get ready for what was supposed to be a laidback night out. Mom had dragged Dad to some opera in the city she had been talking about for months which left us home alone to get ready. I decided to wear my new black long sleeve bodysuit which conveniently plunged down so low that I opted to go braless, with a short black leather skirt. Mia had curled my hair into these beautiful soft beachy waves that I could never seem to get right when I tried to do it myself.

I finished it all off with a sharp cat eye to showcase my eyes and my favorite shade of nude lipstick. I stopped in front of the body-length mirror in my bedroom to check out the final results. Perfect, I muttered to myself.

Mia narrowed her eyes at me as she did her make-up in the mirror and bit her lip, "if I didn't know any better I'd think you were trying to be seen by someone tonight".

I could feel the heat penetrating on my face. Fuck, was it that obvious? I didn't care about Blake anymore, but was it bad that I just wanted a taste of sweet revenge? The fact that he didn't even bother to come over and say hello today on the field because he was too busy with Malibu Barbie still infuriated me. "It's my first night back in five years. Is it too much to ask to look presentable?"

"Presentable? Girl, you look like an entire happy meal. Guys are going to be drooling all damn night", she said and tossed her head back in a laugh.

Mia puckered her lips together and stood up in the mirror to take a final look, "not too bad", she said under her breath. I'd given Mia a dress to borrow which seemed to look better on her than it ever did on me. She wore a short white bandage dress that emphasized every single curve on her body. The white dress contrasted against her long natural bouncy dark brown curls that I had always been envious of and her glimmering light green eyes. She reminded me of one of those exotic supermodels you would see on TV.

I was thrilled that the walk was short and sweet, but I felt my wolf getting restless for no apparent reason. We approached a glowing sign at the corner of the block that read "The Wolf's Den". The line to get into the bar had wrapped around the building. I shot Mia a concerned look and began to complain, "you do realize by the time we get inside, it'll already be last call". It had been clear that this place had become extremely popular, but I didn't spend the last couple of hours dolling myself up to stand in a line all night.

A huge hand grasped mine and pulled me towards the door abruptly, "Not when you're with the band", a low husky voice taunted. Whoever this dude was, held both Mia and I's hands, one on each side. We approached the front of the line and a bulky bouncer nodded at him, "Band is here!", he belted out to the man in the all-black suit behind him. "Have a great night ladies", he said as he unclipped the velvet rope, side stepping and granting us access into the bar.

The Wolf's Den hadn't changed a bit since the last time I was here, the entire place had a rustic vibe to it. Once we got inside, Mia grabbed the back of this guy's neck and impatiently kissed him. Serious PDA alert, I thought to myself. After a few moments of watching them exchange spit, Mia pulled back and turned to me. "Kelsey, this is my boyfriend, Jake. Jake, this is THE Kelsey I've been telling you about!" He pulled me into a tight hug, "welcome home", he whispered in my ear.

Mia and I gutted straight towards the bar while Jake took off to get ready for his set, "two tequilas!", she shouted to the buff bartender. He slid over the tequila shots with a lemon rimmed on each glass and smiled at Mia, "I got it, it's on me".

I gave Mia a knowing smirk but didn't dare to say anything as she passed me my shot. She lifted up the tequila shot and cheered, "just like old times" and clinked her glass with mine. I enjoyed the burning sensation of the tequila running down my throat for a moment before I stuffed the lemon into my mouth.

A group of people we went to high school with starting gathering around us, each one insisting on buying another round. Ugh, there's no way I'm going to make my meeting with Alpha Max tomorrow morning sober. While it was nice to see so many familiar faces, Mia could tell that I was being overcrowded. I lipped "thank you" to her when she asked me to come with her to the washroom.

We strolled into the ladies' room quickly and touched up our makeup, neither of us actually needing to use the washroom. "I swear that bartender definitely has the hots for you", I teased as we walked out of the washroom, both of us breaking out into a laughing fit.

"ARIZONA!" came shooting from my right side and I turned to see Asher enthusiastically standing up from his chair at the table that was too close for comfort. I forgot to breathe when my eyes shot past him and locked with Blake's. Oh shit, this is how this is going down. This is not how I expected this play out. Blake looked like a deer in headlights and I was pretty sure I had an identical look pasted to my face.

He quickly diverted his uncomfortable gaze onto the beer bottle label he had been playing with, avoiding making further eye contact with me at all costs as if he couldn't care less that I was standing right there.

My wolf was howling ecstatically inside, immediately recognizing Alpha Blake's seductive scent of sweet butterscotch interlaced with a musky sandalwood, which she missed so much. It had been pretty much the reason why I avoided going to bakeries in Arizona, one whiff of butterscotch in the air and it felt like my heart was breaking all over again at reminder that my destined mate, the man I was fully in love with, had rejected me all those years ago.

In that brief moment, I could see silver swirls dancing in Alpha Blake's memorizing blue eyes. His wolf was pushing forward too. What was going on? Why was the bond still so strong between us?

Asher looped his large tattooed arms around my waist and pulled me close to his body so I could hear him over the loud music, "Give me five minutes to get away from work, I gotta buy you a drink".

Just then the other man that was sitting with them, pushed his beer up to his lips and said "come on Asher, you're going to keep these beauties all to yourself?" His eyes bolted up and down my body, I had felt violated like he had just eye fucked me right there.

My wolf immediately picked on his strong Alpha aura, he demanded dominance on a level that almost made me shutter. Admittingly, he was strikingly handsome. He was tanned and jacked, he had dark purple eyes that made him look dangerous and a faded buzz cut. I could feel Asher's hesitation rolling off of him when he struggled to introduce us, "Well, this is my best friend Kelsey from Arizona and her friend Mia from Crimson Pack. Kelsey, Mia: this is Alpha Tate of the Black Moon Pack and his beta, Luke. You already know Alpha Blake obviously, so I'll skip the introduction there".

My heart was pounding outside of my chest being so close to Blake, all those memories that I'd fought so hard to forget came pouring down. I had to ignore the urge I had to jump over the high top table that they were sitting at and throw my body against his. That same chiseled and rock-hard body that lit something explosive deep inside of me.

Blake lifted his beer to his lips as if he was looking for some liquid courage and before he set it back down on the high top table, he calmly nodded at me and said, "Kelsey. It's been a long time". I couldn't control the anger that was suddenly building up inside of me at his casual acknowledgement and nodded back, "not long enough" and turned my attention to Alpha Tate.