Chapter 3:

Aeric's POV

Loud R&B music blares inside the club creating a symphony that sways hips on the stage. As Lucius and I enter the club, people freeze in their place eventually bending at their hip and bowing a full ninety degrees. 

Why not? We are the future Alphas of the Dark Night Pack. Alpha Lucius and the strongest Alpha Aeric, the undefeatable twins.

My lips tug at the end lifting up in satisfaction at my own thoughts. You might think I am narcissistic. Well, I won't deny it. When you are as handsome as the Endymion even the moon goddess will fall for your charms. 

I snort walking behind my brother into the club Delirium with my head held high only to bang into a body before me.

" Ouch! Look before you stop", I say rubbing the edge of my forehead and looking at Lucius who suddenly stopped in his tracks

Lucius is a giant- standing five centimeters taller than me at six feet two and with bulky shoulders, he looks like a Greek God. Definitely, less than me - but his heavily built body can show you holy epitomes of heavens even when you simply bang into it. 

Not that I am weak, it's just that I am less bulked up than his beefed-up figure. But definitely more handsome.

Lucius looks over his shoulders, with his ice-cold green eyes and that grumpy face and a small shudder passes my spine. 

" Isn't it something I should say, look before you walk". His equally cold voice pierces the hyped environment around us.

I bat my eyelashes as his eyes pierce mine, raising my hands in defense making a peace sign.

He rolls his eyes, unable to resist my charms before shoving his hands into his pockets. 

God, if I wasn't his sibling that particularly lived alongside him for years I would have frozen to death with his gaze, but then again my hotness would have just defeated him. 

I shrug, my lips tugging in a grin and I circle around Lucius to take a seat at the bar. Hoping on a single stool, I order a strong Boulevardier to get me in the mood to enjoy the dances tonight, when Lucius walks beside me taking a seat next to me. 

Eyeing the bartender he orders his old-fashioned bourbon and I roll my eyes. 

" Brother, you need to up your game with something fancy"

"Aren't you drinking the same thing, just with some refined sugar on top", he retorts and I raise my eyebrow. 

"So, planning to lose your virginity tonight", I elbow him to his sides, swirling in the stool when he huffs out a strong gush of air from his mouth. 

" It's a strip club, not a brothel, and anyway dad asked us to take care of this place." 

" Yeah, but look there I don't think it's just a strip club", I point towards the girl getting fingered by some alpha at one of the tables. 

"And now that we are here, might as well check some services.", I say clinking my glass of my Boulevardier against his and he rolls his eyes. 

Well with the number of times he rolls them, I am afraid they will be permanently stuck behind his head. I snort imaging Lucius in the very condition, taking in a sip from the glass.

Honestly, the club is super awesome. I don't know why dad never let us visit this place, it wasn't like we weren't allowed to go to strip clubs and shit. It was just that he never permitted us to enter Delirium. Thinking back, he said it was something about keeping us away from rival eyes, I don't know what rival eyes but whatever it was he has been taking care of this beauty. And now that I know of it, I am sure to visit every day.

I sip on my glass gulping a large chunk of alcohol before turning to the quivering bartender. The corners of his eyes were locked on us, probably to not miss any of our orders or something. So as soon as I look at him, he flies down before me. 

" Easy man", I say seeing him all trembling on small shaky jitters. 

" So tell me who's like the best girl in the club", I say, trailing my eyes over tons of girls around the club eyeing me and Lucius with flirty and seductive gazes. 

No doubt they are beautiful, but no one specially held my attention. And from the things I have heard from Uncle Valen, there is a goddess in here. 

The bartender scratches his nape as if thinking before he blurts, "Penny".

" Penny, interesting name", I spurt the name out of my mouth, " Where is she now?". 

" She will be up…". That's all I hear. 

My heartbeat spiked, almost raiding thousands of horses inside me, and like a dog, my nose started twitching in the direction of the enticing smell that whiffed my way. It was almost faint, and trust me if I was not a werewolf I would have definitely missed it amidst the strong lust pheromones in the air. 

But there was something much more to the smell. Being Alphas of the pack we could smell and connect to our pack, but the bond is not yet that strong because we aren't officially bonded by rituals, so placing a finger on the exact smell is impossible. But the smell around me is an exotic blend of Moonflowers and night jasmine. 

Was it our mate? My mind suddenly bounces with a question, and I focus on my inner wolf. 

Nope, he isn't panting like a lost puppy. So definitely the smell doesn't belong to my mate. Then who is it?

My eyes trail to every corner of the club finding the source of the smell when I see Lucius shuffle in his space. My eyes search for his face, and I could see the very dog-like whiffing face he made. 

Can he smell that too? 

" Lucius, do you smell that too?", I ask too cautiously for my own liking and he looks at me with wide eyes. 

" What do you mean by you too? Do you smell"

" Moonflower and night jasmine", we croak together only to jolt out of our seats. 

" Is it by any chance your mate?". The question just flows out of me, my insides weirdly churning at the answer. 

He shakes his head in denial, and I release a breath of relief. I don't know why my breath hitched for a millisecond at the possibility of the person being his mate, but it just felt like something important was snatched from me. 

" Who do you think it is then?"

" Someone close, even related to us", he says and I cock my head in confusion. 

" How do you know it is someone related to us?"

"Well, we can't smell our pack members so accurately, our wolves did not recognize it as their mate so it has to be someone related to us. But…" Lucius suddenly snaps his head towards the beaded curtain, his eyes almost out of his socket. 

I follow his gaze, and my world freezes. 

Standing in front of sparkling beads is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life. Her icy blue eyes examine the room and when her fingers brush the strand of her hair away from her face, I swear I could feel the twirl of air they created around her. 

Her skin shone in a tint of dusky silver peeking under her midnight blue two-piece. Her curves squeezed out of the fabric, and the down part what is it called her panties, underwear whatever it was, was held in place with a diamond belt laced over her slender waist. 

Another line of diamond trailed over the curve of her boob, and holy son of a bitch what is that. 

As she walked towards the center of the stage flipping her body over the pole, I swear I could see through her underwear. A small diamond adorned her clit area, and if that wasn't the hottest thing, I don't know what was. 

My cock twitched against my pants looking at her, and holy fuck if she was by any chance my stepsister or cousin, I would still take my chances. 

I ogled at her like my life depended on it as if my heart was going to stop the moment I stop looking for her. Aside from the fact that looking at her did not make it any easier to breathe. 

A sudden low grumble erupted from my chest, its effect plausible enough to send a wave of tremble around me. Even with my eyes on her, I could feel their submission, and that is when I move my eyes to look around. 

All the men in the club were looking at her. Looking at everything that I could look at and desire and my chest burns with rage. It's not that I own her or something, and given the fact that she isn't my mate, I shouldn't feel something like this. But even the idea of someone looking at her boils my blood, guess what I could do if someone lays a hand on her. 

“Two thousand”, a rough voice rumbled across the club, and my head snapped in the direction of the voice. 

The entire crowd at the club slowly started to spew numbers, and for a second I did not get why they were calling them. Once the number had reached Seventy thousand, the count stopped. 

A man clad in black climbed the stage, the one that croaked the seventy thousand when things clicked in place for me. They weren't just some numbers, it was the price to touch her. 

Fuck, I won't let anyone do that and so before he could lay his dirty hands on her I called out, “Ten million. Now back off fucker”