The Wrong Bond

2

The call ended just as I arrived at the front of the bar. The familiar building was practically hanging on its last legs, the exterior covered in posters and graffiti.

A flickering neon sign hung above the entrance, its buzzing light casting an eerie, uneven glow. The letters spelling out “Mark’s Bar” were missing a few bulbs, so it looked more like “M_rk’_ Bar,” but it had its charm in a rundown sort of way.

I headed to the door and pushed it open, the handle cold. I was instantly greeted by a blast of warm, slightly stale air that smelled of beer and cleaning supplies.

I carefully squeezed my way to the front of the bar and was surprised that it was packed this early in the night. It was just a few minutes past nine, and we didn’t usually get rushes until at least ten.

“Ally!” Connor yelled, and I headed to meet him behind the counter.

“Hey, Connor. Big night?” I asked, nodding to the crowd quickly forming inside the bar as I put on my apron.

“There’s a rumor we might have a special guest,” Connor responded with a glint in his eyes.

“Good thing I wore my extra short skirt tonight.” I smiled, wiping down the countertop. “Any idea who it is?”

It was rare for us to get well-known people at the bar because it was located in the middle of nowhere. No high-profile individual would leave their comfortable uptown bars to come downtown, where the crime was at an all-time high.

Rogues roamed the streets here, and barely any laws stopped them from wreaking havoc.

Connor shrugged, his grin widening. “No clue, but whoever it is, they’re causing quite a stir. Everyone’s been buzzing about it since this afternoon.”

“I hope they tip well,” I responded, completely uninterested, as I tossed a rag over my shoulder and stepped up to take my first order of the night.

I had already started doing the math in my head. The bar was full, which meant more tips. Whoever this mystery individual was, they might have the cash to be a good tipper. I was also manning the counter and serving tonight, which meant double tips.

I glanced around, noting the faces in the bar, some familiar, others new. The bar’s clientele was usually a blend of downtown workers unwinding after their shifts, local college students, and the occasional rogue.

“What if they’re an Elton?” Connor whispered.

I sneered. “They wouldn’t dare. They’re too uppity for downtown life, and they’d be signing their death sentence by coming to this bar. Half the wolves downtown would have their heads if they showed up here.”

“Are you part of that half?” a voice asked me. I looked up into the bluest pair of eyes I’d ever seen in my life.

For a moment, I was stunned, my retort caught in my throat. Those eyes were intense, captivating, and challenging. I’d never been stunned into silence, but I was utterly dumbfounded at that moment.

Those eyes taunted me, urging me to answer. I could’ve sworn that Connor and I had been whispering, so whoever this was, he had very sharp hearing.

The man tilted his head to the side, a slight smirk playing on his face, which was equally annoying and insanely attractive.

“I’m waiting for an answer.”

The bar seemed to hush around us, the usual clamor fading into the background. My heart raced and I knew, without a doubt, that tonight was about to get a lot more interesting.

Shawn

The black, air-conditioned car shook as we drove down the dark, uneven road. I peeked out of the car’s tinted windows, trying to get my bearings. The streets were poorly lit, potholes dotted every few feet, and storefronts were boarded up along dirty sidewalks.

“The rogues have made a mess in this part of our district,” I said, looking at the map on my tablet. Red markers indicated incidents of rogue activity, and this bar was right in the middle of a sea of red.

Ethan, my friend and beta, peered over my shoulder. “They’ve been causing more trouble lately. Attacks, territory disputes, you name it.”

“This district has been completely neglected. We need to take care of it to ensure our own safety!” I said through gritted teeth, knowing full well why this had happened.

My father had a hand in everything that happened in this city, and as long as the uptown wolves were unaffected, he didn’t care how bad it got downtown.

People said that Alexander Elton was the most powerful and richest alpha who’d ever lived. He controlled the entire town with an iron fist, and he expected me, his son, to follow in his footsteps. But unlike him, I couldn’t just ignore the chaos and suffering going on down here.

As the car moved through the narrow roads, I couldn’t help but think of the countless arguments I’d had with my father about our approach to the downtown district. He saw it as a place of little consequence, a buffer zone that kept the rabble at bay. I saw it as a powder keg ready to explode, one that could destabilize everything we’d built if not handled correctly.

When the rogues got bored of attacking the poor downtown, they’d set their sights on bigger possibilities, all of which were uptown. No one was safe, and the sooner we curbed this issue, the better.

“But why do we have to go undercover at a downtown bar? We have people for that,” Ethan grumbled.

It had taken a lot of convincing to get him to come with me, and only when I’d pulled the alpha card did he give in.

“So we see firsthand what’s happening,” I responded, my eyes still glued to the tablet.

“But we could have gone to Riley’s and had a great time. We’d be safe there, and our people could send us updates about downtown,” Ethan pointed out.

A short silence extended between us when I didn’t offer a response, and suddenly, his eyes dilated in realization.

“You’re doing this to spite your father,” he said with a snort.

I shrugged, not doing anything to deny it. “Spite is a strong word.”

Ethan leaned back in his chair, a smirk crossing his lips. “Maybe, but it’s fitting. Alexander would never set foot in a place like this. It’d be too beneath him.”