Chapter One

Zero POV

I could smell it before I had even shoved my way through the swing doors — not just liquor, but a symphony of human emotions, of sweat and fear. My new heightened senses made The Den a sensory overload, yet it was just the sort of hunting ground I was used to.

I stopped, surveying my turf. All the mammal life was just sitting there in the chairs and dancing and didn’t know that there was a predator among them. Some chatted in their blissful ignorance, while others swayed to the pulsing beats from the live band on stage.

The bar existed in a different dimension. Men in stools crowded around it, laughing and squabbling over alcohol like animals fighting over the last bones of meat. They drank whiskey and beer with the desperation of the dying.

A field of battle with liquor as a prize. No survivors necessary.

My lips turned in a smile that showed the tip of a fang. Stampede night — always the night to blend in. Every stool around the bar was occupied, but I needed to get close to my mark, so I pushed forward, my hips swaying with a predatory grace I couldn’t entirely suppress.

"Hi!" I fluttered my eyelashes at one beer-blad male with a belly to rival a well-fed grizzly’s. “Would it be all right if I borrowed your seat, kind sir?” There was a sweetness to my voice that belied the danger bubbling underneath.

He scoped his way down to my B-cup, full hips, and then he made his fatal error — he leered. "Sure thing, sweetheart. That right there? Parked on my lap. I'll even share my beer."

Poor, foolish prey.

I knew what was coming. I let out a breath and felt irritation begin to boil under my skin. I gave him an opportunity — even backed down — but he was bull-headed to the marrow.

Don't do it, mister. The moon’s close enough that I can’t promise control.

But humans don’t ever listen, do they?

As his hand reached for my waist, I coiled my right fist and suspended it in the air as a threat. So instead of backing down, he flashed his gap-toothed smile and stood to close the space between us.

Maybe he thought I was just some hapless female without fangs or claws. Perhaps it was the red hair or the leather mini skirt that threw him. However he rationalized it, he never saw the attack coming.

My fist clenched into his jaw, an uppercut that rearranged his face with little of my real strength behind it. I was careful to hold my cards close enough to not spill my secret.

For such a big man, he fell shamefully quickly. 

"Evening, Z!" From behind the counter, Ron grinned. He didn’t so much as blink as he pushed a green bottle my way. The pack learned long ago not to doubt my methods.

I was about to bring the bottle to my lips when I detected a scent that was not welcome — wild, dangerous, and palpably lupine. It was him. Charles knew that much. He strode toward me, giving the man next to me a withering look that sent the guy scrambling, then appropriated the empty seat.

“Oh, I noticed you’ve staked your claim already.” His gaze flickered pointedly to the unconscious man being pulled by his ankles. The bouncer caught my eye and nodded respectfully — another member of my secret pack.

"What can I say?" I shrugged, tilting my head back to down the contents of my bottle, relishing the burn. "This is my hunting ground."

“I’ll have whatever the Alpha female is drinking.” He motioned toward Ron, who had foreseen the request and set down an identical green bottle in front of him.

The stranger pulled a long brown envelope from inside his coat and slid it over the bar. I seized it before it made its escape; somehow my reflexes were even faster than usual. It contained a 12 by 14 black and white photograph of a man who seduced me instantly. The subject had black hair around an oval face with a square jaw, but it was the eyes that caught my interest — grey, hooded and smoldering with an intensity that spoke to the wolf in me.

Those eyes. They sparkled with a wildness I knew all too well. Below that human exterior, something primal lurked.

He was devastating — devastatingly beautiful, devastatingly dangerous.

A shame he needed to die.

I looked up to see the leather-clad messenger watching me with one eyebrow raised. "Is there a problem?"

I shrugged with calculated nonchalance. “Wondering what your timeline is.”

"Tomorrow." His eyebrow lifted higher, as if daring me to say no.

I couldn't hide my surprise. That kind of rush job reeked of desperation.

“You’re meant to be the best hunter in three territories. Why the shock?" In his tone dripped condescension.

I noticed the power play and flinched internally. Even my inner wolf growled at the insult. I’d established myself over and over in this industry, working twice as hard for half the respect. Some alpha-wannabe isn’t going to question my reputation.

“I’ll do it tonight, for two million.” I jutted out my chin and eyed her dangerously. Not just the best — I fetched the highest price in the land.

He nodded, unfazed, as if it was nothing. “My Alpha will offer five million. Half now in an untraceable account when you sign here” — he pulled a form out of thin air — “and the balance when the target’s heart has ceased to beat.”

I had a hard time keeping my composure. But five million would cover Chito’s treatments — and then some. I could leave all this, start over somewhere the pack couldn’t follow.

"Something wrong?" He stared at me with uncomfortable intensity. "Payment not sufficient? My Alpha is magnanimous to those who serve well.”

“No problem with the amount,” I leaned forward enough to expose a little fang. “But I don’t take transfers in advance. Transfer the balance after taking cash advance first. Full payment guaranteed."

His eyes shone with moonlight that could not have been shining within. He moved forward until our faces were just a few inches apart. “You think I walk around with that kind of cash?”

My lips twisting into a smile more snarl than human expression. “You could have expected that, before you came after me. Those are my terms."

Our gaze met in a kind of primal challenge. It was more than about money — it was about granting power, about establishing hierarchy. I didn't blink or back down. Finally the corner of his mouth twitched upward, and he nodded in grudging respect. He picked up a briefcase from the floor and pushed it over to me.

I managed to catch it without losing eye contact. "What's this?"

"See for yourself."

Without breaking my gaze from him, I cracked the case open. It was stuffed full of neat, frozen stacks of crisp hundred-dollar bills. I pulled one out and held it up to my nose, inhaling deeply. 

"Zero," I offered my hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”

And then he reached out and gripped my hand in a handshake that could have pulverized the bones of any normal human.

Before he could pull free, I leaned close some more. "One question." I tapped the photograph. "What's his crime?"

His forehead crinkled right away; I had clearly crossed some line. Too bad. Even a hunter like myself had a code to live by: I never killed no one who didn’t have blood on their hands.

Believe me, I used to smell guilt.

The messenger sighed heavily, regained his hand and inclined his head slightly. "Fair enough. He’s a scientist who’s made himself rich by poisoning millions with his drugs. He’s been conducting experiments on our kind.” His eyes connected with mine pointedly. "That's all you need to know. Are you in or out?"

I looked at him for what felt like a lifetime, but was less than a second. "I'm in."

His face glowed in a smile that felt strange in his own features, in contrast to the effortless magnetism of the scientist in the photograph.

He unzipped his jacket and pulled out a phone that unfurled before my eyes into a folding laptop. An escrow service’s name appeared in one corner, along with two and a half million dollars. I filled in my offshore account number and watched while he hit send.

“Details in the envelope on your left. Track him down and eliminate his threat, once and for all. Knowing that my Alpha will hear news tomorrow. Don’t call me when it’s done — we know when his heart stops beating.”

He stood, pocketed the device, and, without farewell or backward glance, walked away.

His retreat continued until he vanished into the crowd, and I turned back to Ron. "Another bottle, please." I made a second thought, reaching for the untouched drink my guest had left behind. "Actually, I'll finish his."

I emptied the contents in five quick gulps and let out a sigh of contentment. “I like a woman who knows how to drink like that. Care to dance?"

I smiled, exposing a little bit of elongated fang. Why not celebrate? Five million had suddenly landed in my lap. But something about the contract

crawled up my back as I stood. Something was wrong, but I couldn't name what it was that set off my instincts.