The Oralei

Four; First Mistake

*Alpha Jaxon’s POV*

My phone buzzes in my pocket as I sit in a booth with Mikey and Xavier, watching the numerous bodies moving to the pumping dance song playing. I take it out and glance at the screen.

‘Hey, we’ve just pulled up at Mission. I’m taking her to the VIP area.’

Way ahead of you Morgan. We had been here a good thirty minutes and two pitchers of beer already.

“Who’s that, Jax?” Mikey questions.

“She’s here,” I say, as I glance at them both, before turning my attention back to the entrance.

Her scent hits me like a freight train as soon as she walks through the door of the club. Citrus orange with a hint of fresh rain…my two favourite things in existence. Even with the overpowering odours of alcohol and sweat mingling in the air, it was unmissable. It was definitely her. But there was something off about it too. A musky undertone that I couldn’t place.

“MATE! MATE!” Hunter howled in my head, prancing around like a puppy who wanted to play fetch.

“I know Hunter, I know. We can’t just go rushing down there and claim her on the spot…as desperate as we’ve been for this moment, we have to be patient.”

“Patience is not my strong suit,” Hunter growled in return, proceeding to lie down in what appeared to be a wolf sulk. He looked ridiculous.

“I’ll show you ridiculous if you carry on Jax. I am no puppy and I am NOT sulking. Alpha’s do NOT sulk.”

“Ok, ok whatever you say!” I tease in amusement.

I fix my concentration on Avianna again and spot her expression of awe walking towards the elevator with my sister Morgan, the strobe lights reflecting in her mesmerising chocolate brown eyes. Even with the darkness, I could see her features perfectly. Long brown hair framed her heart shaped face with her petite nose and full, kissable lips. Her toned body with the perfect amount of curves in that dress…f*ck me that dress looked amazing on her. Her luscious breasts slightly bouncing with each step made my d**k stir in my jeans. The long slit allowed me to catch glimpses of her toned, tanned legs that I envisioned wrapped around my waist while I f*cked her until she screamed my name in pure pleasure. She was perfection. Pushing my fantasy away, - well for now - I noticed Avianna had abruptly stopped halfway to the elevators. It looked as if she were panicking about something. F*ck. I pray to the moon goddess that Morgan hasn’t told her anything, not yet.

“s**t!” I murmur under my breath. This doesn’t go unnoticed by Mikey and Xavier.

“What is it?! Xavier asks, slight panic ringing his deep voice.

“She’s stopped. She looks worried about something.” Mikey observes. “You don’t think?!”

“You read my mind. Morgan better not have let anything slip for f*ck’s sake,” the annoyance in my tone evident. Hunter growled in agreement.

A few moments later, Avianna turns her head slightly to the side, allowing me to catch sight of the beautiful grin on her face as she carries on walking. I let out the breath I didn’t realise I was holding, Mikey and Xavier both sigh in relief too. My gaze continues to follow her like a hawk until she steps inside the glass elevator.

After a minute or so, she walks out onto the top floor - the VIP floor, then, I hear her voice for the first time in 18 years.

“Oh. My. God! This is the best club I have ever been to!”

We all couldn’t help but snicker. Her voice was beautiful, angelic. It sent warm tingles running through my entire body, one area in particular. I wanted to hear it everyday for the rest of my life. Hunter was going completely wild in my mind and trying hard to take control from me. It took quite a lot of my strength to hold him back.

“No Hunter, we can’t, not yet! She will run a mile if a strange man runs up to her and starts dry humping her against the wall while growling ‘mate’.”

“Well, at least you’ll be the one who looks crazy. I’m safe in here,” he grins.

I shake my head and push him to the back of my mind. I need my full concentration to be able to figure out how I’m going to play this.

The girls walk over to the bar and that bartender swiftly moves across to serve them. Jason, I think his name is? F*ck knows. But I’ve seen him plenty of times to know what a mega flirt he is with any female who walks up to that bar.

I try to listen in on their conversation from across the floor. Wolf hearing does have its perks at times, but honestly, it’s even better when there isn’t music thumping loudly all around you.

I do manage to catch his first attempt at laying it on my mate and a loud growl escapes my chest. It rumbles the floor, even over the bass of the music playing. Mikey and Xavier both tense up next to me. Clearly both of them heard him too. I feel their eyes on me, while I feel mine turn black and the guy briefly glances my way. If looks could kill, that guy would be six feet under right about now. I know for a fact that he knows it came from me. He’s a werewolf and if he doesn’t know, well, then he’s a f*cking moron.

I notice Avianna’s head turning this way and quickly regain my composure. As her eyes meet mine, it takes all of my willpower to not race over there and kiss every inch of her perfect body and claim her as my mate and forever partner.

A look of unease crosses her eyes as she holds my gaze and something else…what was that?

“Hold on a minute,” Mikey starts, as Xavier and I turn our heads to look at him. “Why the hell is she not responding to the mate bond?! She should be over here right now all googly eyed and declaring her undying love for you, should she not?!”

“He’s got a point,” Xavier adds.

We all turn our gazes forward and see Avianna and Morgan heading away from the bar with their drinks and towards a booth next to the glass balcony.

Why isn’t she responding to the mate pull?!

“I can’t sense her wolf either,” Hunter mumbles with disappointment. “Something is blocking her, a kind of barrier that I can’t find a way through.”

I turn my attention back to the guys. “Hunter says he can’t sense her wolf.”

Both of their eyes widen with surprise and confusion lines their faces.

“No wonder she isn’t sensing the mate pull,” Xavier mumbles, more to himself than anyone in particular. “Maybe she has some form of block on her wolf and all of the heightened senses along with it.”

Mikey nods in agreement. “There has to be something there, but we have no idea what we’re dealing with.”

“Well, no one knows what happened to her or her parents all those years ago,” I point out. “Maybe they did something to her, to protect her from something, or someone. Or maybe someone else has done it.” I was growing more frustrated with each passing second, as I remember that no matter how many times I had asked my parents what had happened to Avianna and hers, they couldn’t give me an answer. Nobody knew.

The guys shrug and shake their heads as if they don’t have an answer to my thoughts either.

I continue to watch Avianna as she takes a sip of her drink and sets it down. Her eyes find mine again as she glances in our direction. Nothing. I sigh in frustration, thinking there is yet another obstacle in the way of me being able to finally be with my mate. The witch said to be patient with her, but my patience is on its last threads, especially after all this time not knowing what had happened to her and wondering if I would ever see her again. I had felt like giving up and trying to move past this more times than I could count. But an alpha never gives up and now I’ve found her, I don’t intend to. Not for one second.

*Morgan’s POV*

I noticed my brother was already at the bar, when I heard and felt his possessive growl from across the room, directly following the bartenders flirtatious chat up lines. I had to act as though I hadn’t noticed it in front of Avi though, so I acted oblivious and avoided her gaze.

Jay absolutely knew it was directed at him and changed from flirty to respectable in two seconds flat.

We went to sit down at our booth and Jax couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. He wasn’t even trying to be discreet for goddess’ sake. I had seen Avi glance in his direction a couple of times too, a look of unease in her eyes. Why wasn’t she feeling the mate bond?! I wondered. Something isn’t right. Seeing the frustrated look on my brother’s face and the confusion on Mikey and Xavier’s, they’ve realised it too.

I see Avi pick up her drink and chug it down in one from the corner of my eye. I chuckle at her eagerness and after she tells me it’s for a buzz to get herself on that dance floor, damn straight I’m joining this alcohol train.

I down my drink and gesture for her to follow me to the dance floor.

Avi goes ahead and starts weaving her way through to the other side and I lose sight of her in the sea of bodies. I take the opportunity to quickly run to the bar and grab us another drink. I feel his presence before he reaches my side.

“Jax, you really need to stop boring holes into her head with your incessant staring. It’s making her uncomfortable, I can feel it.” I say pointedly.

“She’s not responding to the mate pull,” he replies worriedly. “Hunter can’t sense her wolf either.”

“What?!” I gasp. “That’s not possible! She’s 20, she should have her wolf already!”

“Hunter says there is some kind of a barrier up, preventing her from being able to communicate with him or any other wolves…maybe even Avianna herself,” he explains.

“We’ll have to talk about this more later,” I sigh. “I need to get back to her or she’ll wonder where I’ve gone.” I grab the drinks, give my brother a quick kiss on the cheek and head back over to the dance floor to find Avi.

I find her at the far side, standing rather awkwardly and not really moving to the music.

I hand her the drink with a grin and start to gulp mine down. With what my brother has told me, this will be the second of many tonight and damn, I just know I’m going to need it with the pit of nerves in my stomach.

I have such a great time dancing with Avi to an array of different tunes and she is a brilliant dancer. After a while, Avi asks me if I want to go and get another drink. I had already spotted the hottie coming my way, eyes on me as he shuffled through the crowd of dancers.

I hold my finger up to Avi and mouth ‘in a minute’ just as he reaches me and starts to move to the music.

“Hey Morgan, I’ve not seen you here for a while,” he breathes, the sour smell of vodka hitting me in the face as I reel my head back and try my hardest not to gag. He may be hot but goddess, he smells like he drank the full bars worth. Now don’t get me wrong, us werewolves can hold our liquor, but I can’t stand vodka or anything to do with it…let’s just say, ultra bad experience when I turned eighteen.

“Umm, yeah I haven’t been out for a few months,” I reply quickly, whilst trying and unfortunately failing to hold my breath at the same time. “Excuse me though, I need to go and find my friend!”

I turn and hurry off quickly in search of Avi. I head towards the edge of the dance floor in the direction of the bar when I spot a struggle to my left.

I quickly shift my gaze and see a man holding a woman from behind and trying to dance with her - ‘trying’ being the fitting word, as she looks like she’s attempting to escape his vice like grip.

As he moves slightly to the side, I notice Avi’s red, floor length dress and hear her scream “get the f*ck off of me!”

Immediately, Avi’s dress wasn’t the only red I saw. I felt my eyes turn black as night and my claws starting to elongate from my fingertips. My wolf, Jada, growled in my mind “He dare to lay his dirty hands on our Luna!”

I noticed Jax coming our way, but before he could cause a scene, I marched right up to the back of the man being forceful with my friend, grabbed the back of his shirt and wrenched him away from Avi. Right before launching him across the dance floor with my wolf strength and onto a glass table, shattering it into pieces. Oops. Seems like I just caused the scene instead.

I was so full of anger seeing my friend - and hopefully my future Luna and sister in law - being forcefully manhandled, that I may have used just a teensy bit too much wolf strength with that Olympic worthy throw I just did.

The music stopped abruptly and everyone around the floor fell deadly silent, looking at the scene that had just occurred.

I turned slowly and came face to face with Avi, staring at me with a ‘what the f*ck is going on’ expression, mixed with a ‘how the f*ck did you manage that’ one. Seems I might have some explaining to do.

In the next moment, Jaxon comes hurtling towards us with Mikey and Xavier in tow, before stopping abruptly a few feet in front of Avi, clearly unsure of what to do or say in that moment.

He just glances from me to her and back again, with the same ‘what the f*ck is going on’ expression that she is also still wearing.

Finally, he decides to speak. “Avianna, are you ok? That man didn’t hurt you did he?”

Avi blankly stares at my brother for a few seconds and I instantly realise that he just made his first mistake. She turns her head towards me slowly, eyes wide and her mouth opening and closing as if she’s struggling to get the words out.

“Morgan, what the hell is going on?! How on earth did you manage to get that man from here,” she splutters, pointing to the spot he was literally just stood with his disgusting hands all over her, “to all the way over there?!” She moves her hand to point towards the scumbag who is struggling to lift himself from the floor. “AND how do you know this man who has been staring at me all night?! And how the f*ck does he know my name!?”

I grimace. F*ck. Yeah, seems like I definitely have some explaining to do…