The Alpha by Jenika Snow

8

Cian

An hour and a half later, we were being led through a dark back hall of Sinner, Adryan’s newest nightclub in the city.

All around Odhran and I were members of the American Vampire Clan, mainly Adryan’s male soldiers, but there was an abundance of human women who loitered. It was clear by the healing bite marks on their necks and almost euphoric gazes as they stared at the male vampires that they were very willing blood donors to the leeches.

I knew vampires lived by the same mated rules as Lycans—as did many in theOtherworld—which meant there wasn't anything sexual going on between the species. They couldn’t, quite literally, fuck anyone but their mate. They didn't want to. So even if the human females wanted more, they weren’t getting anything more than fangs in their neck and their life source sucked out.

The aesthetics of the club were stereotypical of what anyone would assume a vampire-run nightclub would be, by media and fictional standards anyway. Red velvet and black patent leather, the shiny vinyl obviously used for easy cleanup.

The vampire who led the way was a scarred, nasty bastard with his upper lip seeming perpetually curled in distaste, his looks sharp enough that if they’d been tangible, they’d slice into our skin. The puckered scar that ran the length of one side of his face and wrapped around his neck spoke that at one point someone had tried to decapitate him. His scar gave Odhran’s a run for its money.

We rounded the corner, and my muscles clenched when we saw brothers Sebastian and Kane, Adryan’s righthand enforcers and cousins to the leader of the AVC.

They stood on either side of an obscenely ornate door that only Adryan would want, because the motherfucker had his head so far up his own ass he was the worst narcissistic psychopath I’d ever encountered.

“Fooking night dwellers,” Odhran rumbled as he bared his teeth at Kane and Sebastian, the brothers’ grins matching. Although they were a year apart in age, the fuckers looked like they could have been twins, they were so similar in appearance and psychotic tendencies. Seemed like lunatics ran in Adryan’s bloodline.

“Fucking dogs,” Kane mumbled with his grin still in place. He was the talkative of the two, with Sebastian being the silent mountain beside him.

“Anything else you need from me?” the scarred vampire asked in a gravelly voice, one that said his vocal cords had been damaged when someone had clearly been trying to take his heads off. Although Otherworld creatures healed quickly, a bad enough wound wouldn’t heal fully no matter how much time passed.

“Nah,” Kane mumbled. “We’re good here, James.” Kane had a stoic expression right back in place. “Matteo is handling some business in the control room. I’m sure he could use some help.”

James gave a nod and looked at me, this indescribable expression on his face, before he turned and left.

Once we were alone with the vampire brothers, Odhran tensed considerably. The amount of vampires we’d come across since we stepped foot into Adryan’s newest nightclub set me on edge as well. There were too many of them, their psychotic grins and elongated fangs meant to intimidate.

All they did was piss me off.

Did they not realize how dangerous a Lycan male was, especially one in search of his female? Did they not know that with just a swipe of my claw along their throat, I could rend their heads from their necks before they could even react? The very idea had bloodlust rushing through my veins.

It had been too long since I’d been in a proper battle, since I felt the warm spray of an opponent's blood cover my face and chest. I dared them to try to get in my way, to stop me from going after Evelyn. I’d get a hell of a lot of pleasure killing each and every one of them.

We stopped a few feet from Kane and Sebastian, my face stony in composure, but I felt the physical tension pouring from Odhran. He wouldn’t attack, not without my strict order, and seeing the smug fucking smile on Kane’s face had me nearly giving the order.

“Fuck,” Kane said on a low chuckle as he eyed Odhran’s face. “If you’re still standing after getting that fucked-up, I hate to see what the other bastard looks like.”

Odhran took a step forward, but I placed a hand on his forearm, stilling him as I moved between him and Kane and went nose to nose with the vampire bastard.

Otherworld males were all big assholes, all normally over six-and-a-half feet tall and heavily muscled, built to protect their females and young—if so lucky to have either.

So if Kane wanted to play with fire, I was more than willing to scorch him to the fucking ground.

But the prick didn’t make a move, just stared me in the eyes with that stupid fucking grin on his face. After a long moment he chuckled deeply and stepped aside. Sebastian opened the door and pushed it wide open. The brothers stepped back even more to let us enter, their dark eyes penetrating and missing nothing.

I stepped inside and felt Odhran move in close behind me, my silent shadow, my enforcer in all ways that mattered and counted. I knew he’d come to the States with me to give me moral support but also to use his brutal strength if need be. And I appreciated the hell out of him.

I focused on the room before me and wasn’t surprised to see the disgusting display of wealth in Adryan’s office. I didn’t bother acknowledging when the door was shut and I sensed Kane and Sebastian closing all of us in together. I looked over my shoulder and let a smile curve the corner of my mouth, letting the brothers know that if I really wanted out, they were the last things I was worried about going through.

I faced forward again and took in the long stretch of black, polished wood that made up Adryan’s desk. I could’ve snorted in amusement at the few items littered on top. A fucking paperweight, a stack of folders off to the side, a corded phone.

It was humorous that Adryan tried to take on this image of some kind of businessman, and although he was, in the human sense, the fucker delegated all that shit to others.

In reality he probably laid his victims out on that table and drained them dry as if they were a meal on a massive dinner plate.

I knew things with vampires were different in this modern age, not like how they used to be centuries ago, where they crept in the dark and drank human blood shamelessly. They couldn’t do that shit now, not with cell phones and social media. The threat of people finding out about the Otherworld was too great, even if many things could be “explained” as altered pictures and videos.

I knew Adryan’s sister, Luna, didn’t drink from humans, but instead our king had a direct line to a blood bank and made sure to get his mate all the fresh sustenance she needed. But Adryan? Yeah, the asshole wouldn’t live off blood contained in a bag, that was for damn sure.

The sound of Adryan’s dark leather chair turning around slowly drew me out of my thoughts. The vampire leader’s body was big, dwarfing the colossal piece of furniture. And as I stared him in his eyes, I knew for a fact that the bastard was tapping it right from the fucking source.

His grin was slow and self-satisfied, as if this was some kind of fucking reunion he’d been counting the days down to. He ran a hand over his dark goatee, his teeth a flash of straight whiteness amid the trimmed dark hair. He leaned back farther, and the leather chair creaked as he lifted his hands and clasped them behind his head.

His plain white T-shirt stretched over his massive chest and thick biceps, and I arched a brow at the very clear outline of a piercing in his left nipple. I didn't know why I was surprised. I bet the sick fuck had his cock pierced too.

Adryan seemed like he’d be into a lot of unconventional things. He didn’t have a mate, so I knew he wasn’t physically intimate with any females, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a sadist. I sized him up, neither one of us speaking. Yeah, he was a sadist all right. The fucker liked inflicting pain too much.

“Well shit,” he said and grinned wider, his fangs very long and white. “If I knew wolves were coming to town, I would’ve thrown a party.”

I heard Odhran make a deep, annoyed sound in the back of his throat, but he stayed otherwise silent, letting me lead.

“It wasn’t a planned trip,” I said plainly. No one in the room moved, the tension thick, the air suffocating with male Otherworld alphaness.

Adryan said nothing as he leaned forward and braced his forearms on his table, his grin still in place before his expression sobered. He reached toward a small onyx skull, the top part open. I noticed pieces of candy filling the depressed part of the skull. Fucking red Jolly Ranchers.

He picked one up and unwrapped it, never taking his focus off me. He popped the hard candy into his mouth and leaned back again, one hand braced on the arm of the chair, his other forearm on the table as he drummed his fingers against the tabletop.

The room was so thick in silence the sound of him moving that small rectangle piece of fucking candy around his mouth grated on my nerves.

“You ever have a Jolly Rancher?”

I lifted a brow. “What?”

“Jolly Ranchers. Hard little fuckers that are nothing but sugar but so damn good. Well, only the watermelon ones.” He grinned again. “They are my weakness.”

“The only one ye got, eh.” I didn’t phrase it like a question, because I couldn’t tell if what Adryan said was true. He was so full of shit the majority of the time, with a brutal and savage reputation to follow.

He chuckled dark and low but said nothing, just the clack-clack-clack sound of him moving that chunk of hard sugar around in his mouth, butting it up against his teeth and fangs.

“Heard you got yourself a little human female, Scot.”

The wolf in me stirred even more at the very mention of her on the fucker’s lips. I didn’t realize I was growling until Odhran stepped closer to me, his body poised to fight.

“Damn. Is this what finding a mate does to a male?” He cocked a dark eyebrow. “Don’t know if I want to stay the fuck away from all that, or want to table in some masochism and try it out.”

There was something off about his voice, this tightness to his words. I tipped my head to the side as I stared at him and tried to sift through the scents, trying to understand the leader of the American Vampire Clan.

“Fucking stop trying to figure me out, wolf,” Adryan growled and slowly rose, all pleasantries gone as his face took on a hard note. “You’re in my fucking territory now. We play by my rules. I don’t need some damn shifter going all shrink on me with his fucking inner animal, got me?”

I didn’t verbally respond, just bared my teeth in a sardonic smile.

He chuckled low. “I’ll give you Lycans one thing… balls of steel. Especially around me.”

This wasn’t Adryan talking himself up or acting bigger than he was. You didn’t become the leader of any Otherworld faction without having some massive strength and brains to go with that brawn. And the bastard had that in spades. You crossed him, he took care of it by ripping your heart out and draining it right down his throat while he stared you in the eyes.

This was about territories and mutual respect. The same would have been expected of Adryan when he stepped onto Scottish soil. Banner would have needed to give him permission to fuck around on Clan land, even if Adryan was the Scottish Lycan king’s brother-in-law.

“Glad you were smart enough to come see me before you started your little adventure.” Back with the fucking finger drumming. “Would have hated for shit to go south because of your disrespect, especially seeing as you’re here to find your mate.”

I curled my hands into tight fists before relaxing them, my nails turning into claws as my wolf rose up to put him in his place for even talking about what was mine.

He glanced down to see my fisted hands and chuckled low. “I can see even bringing her up rubs you the wrong way, and we don’t want you shifting full wolfie, so how about I concede right now and show you around my new place.”

I didn’t miss how it wasn’t a question. He stood and walked around the desk, and that’s when I noticed the massive golden fucking dog following close to his heel. The animal must have been hidden behind the desk.

Adryan stopped when he rounded the desk and tucked his hands into his pockets as he leaned back on the polished wood. “He’s a big bastard, isn’t he?” He reached out and ran a hand over the dog’s boxy head, the thick mane of fluffy yellow and tan hair around its face making him look like a lion. “Mastiffs are loyal to a fault, guardians. They are gentle giants,” he said in a low voice just as the dog bared its teeth and growled menacingly.

“Yeah, it seems like he’s real fooking loving.”

“That is one fooking ugly dog,” Odhran said in a low tone, but the scowl Adryan tossed his way told me he heard nonetheless.

“Hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, motherfucker. Watch what you say about Bear.” Adryan kept stroking the dog’s massive head, and the canine bastard had his gaze locked on me, as if he scented a predator in the room and wanted to clamp his big fucking jaw right on my throat.

We were all silent for long moments before Adryan pushed off the desk and came toward me, hands back in the pockets of his slacks, the smile lazy on his face. He stopped when we were nearly toe-to-toe, eyeing me up like he could see every fucking secret I held. And I met the prick’s gaze head-on, letting him see his intimidation tactics wouldn’t work on a male like me. I’d been alive a long fucking time, had seen a hell of a lot, battled and killed mercilessly, and there were a lot of fucking scarier things in this world than this vampire bastard.

“I admire your gumption, Cian.” His smile fell as he grew serious. “But watch it, fucker. You're in my territory now and not safely tucked all up in the Highlands with Banner at your back, or my baby sister’s influence to try to tame the beast in me.” He bared his teeth and let his fangs grow wicked long. “You cross me here, in my home, and heads will roll. Fucking got it?”

I took a step closer so the tips of our boots were touching and held his gaze with mine. I sensed Sebastian and Kane moving closer, but Adryan shook his head as he held my stare, a nonverbal demand that he didn’t need his enforcers’ backup.

“Let's make one thing clear, Adryan. I'm here for one reason and one reason only… the most important fooking reason of my godforsaken existence.” I bared my teeth in a macabre grin. “I’ll follow the law in yer land, but my priority is tae find my mate. And nothing, no’ even some arrogant vampire prick, will stand in my way.” I let my Lycan rise up, my eyes flashing from the force of his presence, the glow from them washing over Adryan’s face. “I’ve got one hundred and thirty years on ye. I have seen more battles, have killed more men than ye could ever tally up, lad. So enough with the pissing contest, yeah?”

Adryan growled low, which had his dog doing the same. I smelled the fucking canine as he came to stand beside his master. Adryan and I held each other’s gaze, male to male, alpha to alpha. The tension was thick, heavy, but I wouldn’t back down. And he knew this, because he wouldn't either if the roles were reversed.

And then like a crack of lightning, he started laughing and reached out to clap me on the shoulder, his fingers tight as he muttered, “Fucking wolves and their stubborn strength. Gotta give credit where credit is due.”

Then he was walking past me and opening the door to step into the hallway. I wanted to tell him to fuck off with his tour. Odhran didn’t give a shit, and I cared even less. I was anxious to get the hell out of here and find my female, to start the hunt, the chase. It got me hard just thinking about tracking her down, and no one was as good as I was.

But I was already pushing the boundaries of respect in Adryan’s land, so I kept my mouth shut and followed him, even if it grated on my nerves and went against the very makeup of the alpha I was.

I knew the longer I was away from my female, the more ruthless I’d be once I had her.

She didn’t stand a fucking chance.