CONRAD'S POV

"She is back!"

Phil, one of the young wolves who had only recently joined the enforcers, barged into my office, brimming with so much excitement he nearly tripped over himself. He caught himself just in time, bowing quickly in greeting before repeating himself.

"Beta Conrad, she's back!"

I didn't need further information to know who the she he just spoke about was.

"Where?" I breathed out a sigh of relief, stacking up the files I had been working on to one side.

"She's at the Wild-Fang bar, with some of the enforcers,"

I frowned.

Why hadn't she gone straight to the Alpha?

Pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration, I cursed under my breath. It had already been hell for the past two days since she left for her last mission.

Everyone had been walking on eggshells around him, careful even with their breathing, terrified of the moment the volcano might erupt.

And now that she was back... she decided to drink with the men before reporting to him?

Really?

I knew Night would have heard about her arrival by now, so I didn't bother sending word. Instead, I went straight to the bar.

After a few minutes of driving, we arrived at the most notorious bar in all of Blackclaw.

Rumor had it that it was popular because one could indulge in any vice of choice here-without judgment and without rules.

I entered to the familiar jeering of the overly excited crowd. Those who noticed my presence quickly straightened, offering their respect.

Men and women were scattered everywhere, lost in decadent drunkenness and wild freedom. The heavy scent of sweat, alcohol, and smoke thickened the air, mingling with the flashing neon lights that reflected off the glossy wooden bar.

Then I caught her scent - sharp, distinct, and impossible to miss - just as someone spoke curtly into my head through the mind link.

"Party-crasher, don't disturb,"

It was her - that slightly husky voice, like someone who had lived the life of a chain smoker. Only if she was human, I scoffed.

The voice in mind simply implied that she had seen me even before I laid eyes on her.

After a few attempts, I found her - seated at a table, back turned to me, nursing her drink amidst a group of overexcited men who looked like they were celebrating her return.

I understood their excitement perfectly well myself. Seeing her again brought relief. It restored calmness to the air.

"I'll just sit and wait for you, princess," I replied through the mind link, emphasizing on the word "princess" knowing she despised it.

I found a quiet corner, ordered a drink, and nursed it in silence.

"Where is she?"

Suddenly, his voice filled my head - quiet, but with that suffocating aura that weighed heavily on my mind. Alpha Night.

I glanced at my wristwatch. I had already been here for over thirty minutes?

How the hell did time fly so fast?

"I said, where the fuck is she?" His voice roared through my mind this time, making me wince.

"She'll meet you soon," I replied carefully, choosing my words like one might disarm a live bomb.

His presence withdrew from my mind as abruptly as it had arrived, leaving my mouth dry.

It was high time I acted.

Stuck between two evils, I decided to stake my life on the one with the more merciful bite.

I stood up, preparing to approach her, when a commotion caught my attention.

A dark-haired wolf, recently accepted into the pack, was harassing one of the female bar attendants.

Nothing new.

I dismissed him at first and turned my eyes back to where she had been seated - but she was no longer there.

Though her scent still lingered strong in the air.

Scanning quickly with rising urgency, a loud smack suddenly echoed, forcing my head to swivel sharply.

The busty female bar attendant had slapped him hard across the face.

I could see the veins in his arms taut with rage. His entire body was coiled like a spring ready to snap.

The reek of violence thickened in the air.

A fight was about to break loose.

"Where the hell are you, woman?"

"Behind you,"

She whispered so close into my ear I felt her breath ghost across my skin.

I spun immediately, finding her standing at a calculated distance, arms folded across her chest, revealing combat-trained muscled arms folded carefully under a well-proportioned chest, which revealed itself even beneath the loose men's clothing she favoured.

I hadn't imagined her voice in my ear just now - I was certain of it.

Such swiftness.

"You've gotten slow, Conrad," She smirked from beneath a face cap that shadowed half her face, revealing just her nose and curved lips, her gaze solely on the brown-haired wolf, whose hand was now wrapped tightly around the bar attendant's throat.

"Give me a few minutes to handle this disturbance," she murmured, stepping forward toward the buff wolf, whose body trembled and seemed to be on the verge of shifting.

She moved past me, long, powerful legs devouring the distance, clad in a T-shirt rolled at the sleeves and baggy trousers that swayed with her deliberate, fluid motion.

"Alpha Night, forgive me for delaying on this," I quietly decided to take my chances.

I sat back down, waving for a refill, settling in to watch the drama unfold before me.

I quickly realized I wasn't the only one.

The thick tension in the air had transformed into heightened anticipation.

One by one, everyone stepped back, giving them space while securing comfortable vantage points to watch.

Because we all knew, someone was about to be handed their ass and it definitely wasn't her.

She gently placed her hand on his.

"Why don't you release Betty?" she asked, her voice deceptively calm, looking up at him from beneath her cap.

Typical of her to know the attendant's name. I found myself smiling like a fool.

The wolf looked at her and shook her hand away aggressively.

"Get your hand off me, you ugly man-wannabe!"

His grip on the poor girl's throat tightened viciously as he glared down at her savior.

"No matter how much you dress like a man, you're still nothing but a woman - meant to be breeded and fucked hard,"

He sneered in her face, before leaning in to lick the side of Betty's terrified face.

It happened so fast, no one saw it coming. One moment he was gloating and the next he was standing so still his breathing becoming significantly ragged, with a look of surprise on his face as well as ours.

"Fuck me!" Someone gasped in the suddenly quiet bar prompting my eyes to drop down to his chest then it widened.

Because, her hand was curently plunged in to the wrist.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

We could all hear the loud, desperate beat of his heart struggling between her grip.

She smiled up slightly at him as his face contorted in excruciating pain.

"I wasn't asking, motherfucker." She said nonchalantly.