The Alpha’s Forbidden Bond

Chapter 05

Jax’s POV

"So, stranger, how about you and me get out of here tonight?" A striking blonde leaned into my space, her question landing somewhere between a joke and a dare.

The club buzzed around us, thick with the smell of spilled liquor and sweat, bodies pressed together under flashing lights while couples melted into the shadows near the walls. Half the room was drunk on something, the music, each other, or the bottles lined up on every table, the same as the woman perched beside me now. "You've had enough for one night," I told her, unable to pull my gaze away. Her dress clung to every curve, dark hair spilling loose past her shoulders, and something about her made my pulse pick up in a way I didn't expect.

"I'm fine, I promise!" She waved off my concern, reaching for the bottle again and tipping another shot straight down before dragging her tongue slowly across her bottom lip.

She's trouble, and she knows it, I thought, unable to look away.

Catherine was the only woman who'd ever caught my attention before tonight, yet here I was, cataloguing every graceful, reckless movement this stranger made like it mattered.

"So what do they call you?" Her palm landed on my knee, warm and deliberate, and she tilted closer, eyebrow arched in challenge.

"Jax." The name felt clumsy leaving my mouth.

She wrinkled her nose. "Boring. Very plain." When her hand slid off my leg, I almost reached to put it back myself. "I'm Elena, for the record."

"Elena, you really should head home. You've had plenty."

"Elena," she repeated, ignoring me entirely, drifting closer until barely a breath separated us, tucking a loose strand behind her ear, "your future girlfriend, apparently." The smirk that followed nearly undid me.

I had no idea what to make of that declaration. This was my first night ever spent among humans, and half their expressions made no sense to me. Was that a threat, a joke, some kind of ritual claim? Whatever it was, it rattled something loose in my chest. I pushed off the barstool.

"Hold on, where are you running off to?"

"Home."

"Seriously? It's not even close to midnight! Come dance with me first, just one song!" She was already on her feet, swaying slightly, eye level nearly matching mine given how tall she stood.

"You go ahead without me."

"You can't be serious right now. You haven't even had a drink!" Her fingers wrapped around my forearm, insistent, and my first instinct was to yank away, half-expecting Catherine's jealous fury before I remembered there was no Catherine left to answer to anymore. My jaw tightened, but somehow my feet followed her into the crowd anyway. "Loosen up a little, Jax! You're wound so tight. First time out at a place like this?" She was already moving to the beat, one arm raised above her head, the other braced against my shoulder like an anchor.

Elena moved like the whole room belonged to her, laughing with strangers on either side without a shred of hesitation, too far gone to care who she bumped into. When someone stumbled into her from behind, I caught her instinctively, pulling her flush against my chest before she could lose her footing.

Damn it. Even wasted, she's impossible not to notice.

"Whoops!" She glanced back at the offender, then up at me, grinning wide. "Come on, dance with me already! Just move like this" Her hips swayed side to side in demonstration while I exhaled hard, more amused than annoyed.

Her eyes caught mine then hazel, warm, endlessly expressive and something about them felt oddly familiar, like I'd spent years memorizing them already. Impossible, considering we'd met minutes ago. Still, the feeling wouldn't shake loose.

What is this pull toward a total stranger?

"Mind if I kiss you?" She didn't wait for permission, curling both arms around my neck and pulling my mouth down onto hers before I could form a response. The kiss was hungry, insistent, nothing gentle about it.

Every instinct told me this was reckless, she was human, this was forbidden territory, and one wrong move from me could send her crashing into the nearest wall. And yet her mouth against mine felt like coming up for air after holding my breath too long.

She tasted like cheap vodka and something sweeter underneath, strawberry maybe, nothing like the memory of Catherine's kiss that had lived in the back of my mind for years.

Heat spread through my chest, low and unfamiliar, my wolf stirring awake beneath my skin for the first time in this world. My palms found her lower back on instinct, tracing slow circles there.

She hummed against my mouth, then pulled back just enough to lick her lips again. "Let's get a cab," she said, fingers already laced through mine, tugging me straight out of the chaos and into the night.