Hendrix
Murder was a noose I wore wherever I went.
Crossing the border into the Hallow Sector where the Madfur pack lived, I clenched and unclenched my hands as I prepared to teach the local Alpha a lesson on dishonoring our agreement. If everyone stayed in line and did their shit, we wouldn’t have a problem.
I wasn’t an unreasonable man, but no one disrespected me and lived to say a fucking word about it.
I entered through the heavy, metal door into Howler Bar, and the place fell silent upon my entrance; only the jukebox played a slow, depressing ballad. The door banged shut behind me, and a few of the wolf shifters flinched. Good. Let them be scared. The place brimmed with the scent of whiskey and the reeking musk of too many wolves crammed into the place.
Their leering eyes belonged to desperate pack members trying to carve a life in this pathetic, broken world.
When I glanced ahead to the bar, no one met my gaze, and a few vanished quietly out of the way, lowering their heads. There was no sign of Anton, the local Alpha, either, or his useless son.
I’d learned plenty in my twenty-eight years. The thing was, confidence intimidated people, as did silence. And I had no problem waiting for however long it took for them to show their faces.
I moved to a nearby empty table, and I took a seat with my view to the bar, watching when the bartender hurried over with a frothing glass of beer.
“Compliments of the house,” he murmured, his voice shaky, and before I could ask him about Anton or his son, he rushed back, eager to leave my side.
I gulped down several mouthfuls of the cold beer, chasing away the heat from my throat.
Hushed whispers floated around me; the words Khan’s pack and Alpha Warlord filtered through the room against the backdrop of the slow song.
Of course, they recognized me. I was the Alpha Warlord to the Khan pack, who ruled over this territory with my two brothers, so there was reason to fear me.
You didn’t become the leader by being the good guy.
I was a self-proclaimed psychopath, and I wore the title as a badge of honor.
Every fucker in the place would love to stand up to me…but they didn’t have the balls to kill as ruthlessly as me. If anyone bothered to try, I’d rip their fucking face off.
Because running a pack, and managing a lucrative arms trafficking business, while providing round-the-clock protection to the packs in our territories wasn’t for the weak-hearted. My brother River once quoted a line he’d read somewhere: Killing one man made you a murderer. But butchering thousands made you a king.
Not that we’d disposed of that many...yet.
I wasn’t visiting the bar to reminisce, though. In fact, I was beyond irate to be in this backwater town.
I scoured the bar again, roaming over faces when my sights finally set on Brayden, the Alpha’s son, emerging from a back area and crossing the room toward the bar. My wolf surged forward, knowing full well we were about to have some fun.
Brayden leaned an elbow against the bar, half propped up on a stool, with his two buddies laughing next to him. They had a young blonde near them, who seemed to be trying to pull away from their grip. Despite Brayden looking bored, he slid his fingers under her chin, lifting her head, studying her.
The fragile blonde froze on the spot. Unmated females were fair game and often used for rutting, then tossed aside. The world was fucked up.
Brayden acted every part the Alpha’s son—arrogant and entitled. I had no issues with that. What he did wasn’t my concern, unless it impacted me. And whether he knew it or not, his father’s actions had placed him directly in my line of sight.
I lifted my drink to my lips to finish it when a sliver of red movement caught my attention over the rim. I slowly lowered the glass to the table and glanced over at her standing behind the bar.
Luminous green eyes as bright as a meadow. They immediately drew my gaze…they seemed to almost jump out from under long eyelashes as she wiped the bar counter furiously, anger burning across her face. She wasn’t looking my way, but I was sure as fuck enjoying the show.
Something about her messed with my thoughts. I never had a problem with women. Most threw themselves at me, and they rolled over in submission, doing as they were told instantly.
But this little creature had me intrigued. Red hair so dark, it almost glinted purple beneath the lights. It cascaded around her face and fell down her low-cut neckline. The two white clips in her hair did little to tame the wild strands.
Her delicate jawline, high cheekbones, full lips, and almond eyes made her beyond captivating. Why did someone like her work in this dead-end bar?
Tossing the rag somewhere behind the counter, she blew a long breath before marching out from behind the bar.
My gaze followed her as she stepped to the side of the room in her blue dress and black apron, her arms and legs dusty with dirt. Even in her loose clothes, I made out her tight, curvy body and an ass I’d love to see bright red with my handprint. The thought of her bent over had my cock stirring.
She lifted a wooden crate, clearly struggling with it, but no one aided her. Not even the two men nearby who appeared to work at the bar. She persisted regardless and wobbled out of the room with the box in her arms.
A sense of innocence came to mind when I looked at her, my wolf awakening in my chest as I studied her. Yet something about this beautiful girl reminded me of dark things… as though she was no stranger to the ugliness of this world.
She was an exquisite thing living in a tragic world. That was a travesty in itself.
I kept staring at the doorway in the back that she’d vanished through, the idea of going after her lingering at the forefront of my mind. The temptation to corrupt such an innocent-looking girl intrigued me, along with the notion of finding out what made her tick.
Once I broke her, she could never go back to how she was before.
I took a swig of my beer. There wasn’t anything I could give the red-haired girl better than she had here…unless darkness was her kind of kink. My cock twitched once more in my pants, and I smirked. Both of us wanted to grab her and show her how to be fucked, but I didn’t have time for that today. Not when I had to deal with this pack’s disobedience in crossing me.
Going after her and grabbing her wasn’t an idea I should entertain.