Fated From the Start

"CAN SOMEONE FIND THE GAS PEDAL PLEASE, FOR f**k SAKE!" I was screaming at my windshield towards no one in particular, but thanks to this god forsaken traffic I was going to be late to my awful job yet again. This was like my 17th strike which meant I was going to get my ass reamed by my sleazy ass boss yet again and that always included some blatant s****l harassment, and then I was going to get all the s**t side work for the night. It wasn't bad enough that I had to push shitty cocktails in a sleazy outfit that left little to the imagination while men gawked and drooled at every woman unlucky enough to be in the building, but I had to be treated like absolute s**t too.  Selling every last shred of my dignity to be able to afford to share a tiny rent controlled loft with my best friend and sustain ourselves mostly on rice and beans wasn't quite what I had in mind when we moved here, but here we were. The move to the city was my "big dream" and she supported me endlessly, despite my ill advised plans, which meant I got to take the s**t shifts flashing my assets waitressing in the strip club for the big tips while she peddled coffee with all her clothes on for half as much. The trade off was she got us free coffee, which I don't think either of us could survive without.  Finally, traffic began to move at a semi-acceptable rate again and we were off like a herd of turtles. If I was lucky I'd be able to skate in the back door of work just in time to earn a gross side handed proposition intended as a warning for being a few seconds late instead of a full blown lecture. It'd play in my favor that I had my red and black plaid corset and black spandex shorts that somehow passed as our uniform on under my sweats already, I'd still get out on the floor in time to claim a semi-decent section. While I could definitely see the allure to not driving around in this ribcage crushing atrocity, I could not understand why most of the girls chose to get ready at the club, I genuinely wanted to spend as little time there as humanly possible. Hence why I was chronically late. I slammed the car into my parking spot just as the clock on the dash stuck 8pm. I grabbed my heels from the passenger seat and bolted for the back door, hoping just this once I could slide in unnoticed. By the time I reached my locker I was pulling my hoodie over my head and kicking off my converse simultaneously. I hoped the fact several of the girls were still sitting at the vanities finishing up their hair or makeup meant I was in the clear. Just as I bent over to unhook my sweat pants from around my ankles I felt an all to familiar grasp on my ass. I shot upright just in time for Sal to grunt into my ear "you're late again sunshine, you gonna give me a piece of this ass soon so I don't fire it". His breath was hot, sticky, and rolled with the stench of stale cigarettes. Everything about Sal, the sleazy owner of this hell hole, repulsed me. One of these days I'd give him a real piece of my mind, but for now if I didn't bite my tongue and get my ass on the floor we wouldn't have grocery money this week. I shrugged him off and slid into the ridiculous 4 inch black suede pumps he made us wear. By the time I turned around to feed him my excuse he'd already moved on to harassing the girls still shimmying into their uniforms.  I took one last minute of solace as I checked my hair and makeup in the mirror. My long brown hair waved down my back from its perfect high pony and my honey brown eyes were boldly lined with black glitter liner winged into a heavy cat eye. My full pouty lips were coated in a bright crimson lip stain. Lastly, I straightened the giant red bow that tied my corset together right between my breasts. As ridiculous as this get up Sal made us wear was, I looked damn good in it. My full curves and slender hourglass shape were accentuated perfectly by the tight outfit. Once I was satisfied that everything was in place, I rushed to the hostess station to hopefully claim part of the VIP section for the night before any of the other servers could beat me to it. The VIP section was my serving ground of choice for a few reasons: they generally tipped better, they were often in groups and therefore typically less creepy than the single guys up front by the stage, and they were often bachelor parties or other celebrations that cared a little less about the scantily clad women and a little more about the stiff drinks. I was all about shifts that led to less groping and more tipping.  I plastered on my biggest saddest puppy dog eyes just before I reached our hostess, Jenny, hoping she'd have pity on me and give me what I desperately needed tonight. Jenny was like the momma bear to all of us servers, and most of the time the dancers too. She was in her mid thirties, putting her ten to fifteen years older than most of us. She hated the way Sal treated us girls and stood up for us whenever she could. If it weren't for the two kids at home that ate off the paychecks Sal signs I'm pretty sure she'd happily chew him up one side and down the other.  "Harlow, baby, what is it you want from me?" She cooed at me in her silky sweet southern drawl.  "Can I pleeease have a VIP section tonight?" I pleaded with her. "You sure can sugar, and the VIP booths are all booked out for the night so you should be pretty busy. The VIP booths I have for you have 4 bachelor parties and a birthday party booked, which will make a decent night for you. I've got Scarlet and Shantel slated for private dances in your section if you need them. Unfortunately, Sal told me to let you know you're also in charge of cleaning the west Champagne room between dances tonight since you were late." Her eyes filled with remorse as she shared that last bit, but honestly it was one of the more tolerable extra jobs Sal had assigned me in the last few months. I could hit some pleather couches with a bleach wipe and vacuum up Glitter twice an hour.  I hugged Jenny and thanked her for giving me the section I wanted and some of my favorite girls to work with and then bounded off to get my section prepped. The doors to the strip club opened at 8, but only a few people ever wandered in that early and VIP reservations usually didn't show up till well after 9. Most people that reserved VIP booths also made bottle service requests so I'd spend the time I had before tables started filling up getting bottles on ice and toting umpteen rocks glasses up to the server station in the VIP loft. The less I had to run down to the actual bar area once we got busy the better.  Before long the club had filled up, all the booth reservations had filed in and the main floor was packed. I was grateful for my prep work because the bar was four layers deep and I did NOT want to fight my way through that a million times just to fill drink orders. Unfortunately, my birthday party table was a 21st and they were definitely here to get plastered and play grab ass. Poor Scarlet had been doing lap dances for the group since they got here and I doubted they were gonna cut her loose anytime soon. On the flip side, three of my bachelor party tables had already been here a bit and they were all pretty easy going. They entertained a lap dance from Shantel from time to time and occasionally glanced down at the dancers on stage, but mostly just tossed back their drinks and shot the s**t amongst themselves. All I really had to do was make my rounds between Champagne Room cleanings and make sure they had full waters and weren't ready for another bottle of liquor yet. My fifth party had just filed in so it was time to see what side of the fence they fell on. As I walked towards the rather dapper, extremely good looking crew I felt drawn to them in an unexplainable way. It was like my body was gravitating in their direction and I'd be moving their way whether I wanted to or not. As I got closer the most incredible cologne I'd ever smelled flooded my senses, it smelled like the thick coastal forest after a heavy rain muddled with freshly ground spices. The group looked in my direction when I was still a few feet away from the table and as my eyes connected with the dark haired, heavily tanned, extremely muscular, god of a man in the back corner I felt my knees weaken and my heart race. I stopped dead in my tracks to try and get my wits about me again, I wasn't usually one to get flustered by a good looking man, and when I did I noticed his features harden and his eyes bulge and him almost levitate out of his seat. I swear I heard a low ominous growl as his friends all snapped their heads back in his direction, but I decided I was definitely imagining things and shook my head in an attempt to clear it.  As I began to finish my approach to the table I noticed the entire group talking amongst themselves now in harsh hushed tones. The dark haired one that had previously caught my attention looked like he was vibrating in place and the man sitting next to him had a firm grasp on his forearm. I was staring at him more than I should be, but I just couldn't stop myself. His piercing blue eyes seemed to be drawing me in deeper and deeper. As I closed the last of the gap between me and the table I drew a long steadying breath, hoping I could get through my server speil without making a fool of myself. "Good evening gentlemen, welcome to Cameo's. I'm Harlow and I'll be your server tonight. If you need anything at all during your time with us tonight please let me know. If you fancy a dance at any time Scarlet and Shantel are our private dancers in this section tonight and will happily give you a good show. The mainstage below will feature a wide array of dancers throughout the night for your viewing pleasure as well. If anyone would like a more private encounter in our Champagne room, please let myself, Scarlet, or Shantel know and we'll get you in as soon as one is available" I rushed out, surprisingly well. I took a shaky breath and continued, "I see here that you requested a bottle of our top shelf scotch so I'll be back shortly with that and waters for everyone, is there anything else I can do for you gentlemen at this time?" All five of the men silently gawked at me wide eyed for a moment and I began to wonder what they were staring at. Did I somehow have food in my teeth? Was my n****e trying to peak out of the top of my outfit? Had I managed to spill something on myself? Finally, before my mind could go too far the guy closest to me with the curly blond hair and devilish smile cleared his throat and spoke. "Harlow, I believe we're all set with just the Scotch and some waters for now, thank you." He finished the statement with a wink and I thought for sure I heard that ominous growling sound again. I turned and headed back towards the server station, not daring to look towards the back corner of the table as I did for fear I'd get sucked into a trance if I connected with those stormy blues again. As I put some distance between me and the table I couldn't help but notice the harsh hushed murmurs return amongst the guys. (Male POV) "Are you sure man? The alpha's mate can't be a human…" Brice whispered in my direction the second that goddess server walked away from us. From the moment we walked into Cameo's I had been overwhelmed by the most incredible smell, like a warm fuzzy blanket straight from the dryer and a plate of fresh baked cookies. As we found our seat upstairs it was like there was static somehow pumping through my veins. I knew something weird was up, but tonight was about celebrating Bice's upcoming nuptials and I didn't want to take away from that. That lucky bastard found his mate on his eighteenth birthday and was finally making her his wife after 5 years. I, on the other hand, at 23 had never even felt the slightest pull towards a woman and was starting to get discouraged about ever finding my mate. Then I saw her. The second I met the gaze of her golden eyes, like warm pools of honey, my heart started to pound out of my chest. My body felt like nothing I could ever explain, but it was being pulled to her. "Mine." My wolf growled in my head. I wanted to burst from my seat and run to her, scoop her up, and make her mine- totally normal behavior when you find your mate in the werewolf world, but more than a little alarming in the human one. This was it, she was the one. My mate. Mine. "Mine." I growled out low as she stopped moving towards me, wanting more than ever to run to her. This had snapped the other guys' attention back in my direction and the realization of what was happening hit them quick. They immediately launched into trying to calm me down, telling me I couldn't just claim a human as my mate in the middle of a crowded club, and telling me to play it cool so I didn't scare her. Brice held my arm firmly while she spoke with us to help contain my urge to jump across the table to her. Now that she had left us for a moment we had a little more time to think about what was going on, but it had deeply pained me to watch her walk away, the sight of her perfect bubble butt strutting away in those heels almost made it worth it though.  I suddenly remembered Brice's question, was I sure, she was human… "Without a shadow of a doubt, that tanned goddess of a woman is destined by the Moon Goddess herself to be our new Luna. Human or not" I stated firmly, a sliver of my Alpha tone coating my voice.  The guys all just sat there with their mouths gaping open for a moment. I couldn't blame them. It was almost unheard of for a born wolf's destined mate to be a human. Let alone an Alpha's destined mate. There was no question though, my heart now beat for that beautiful human woman. "Do humans feel the mate pull?" Callan broke the silence finally.  "I honestly don't know… the way she was staring at me though, I'd believe she felt something. Goddess, I hope she at least felt something…" I answered.  "You're going to have to actually date her, do things the human way." Brice mused. And he was right, I'm going to have to make this girl fall in love with me, not just claim her as mine, mark her, and go about living our lives together.  "She probably doesn't even know we, werewolves, really exist. How am I going to tell her? Let alone convince her to move into a house with a bunch of us on a property inhabited by hundreds of us." I started to spiral out loud. Getting this girl was not going to be any easy feat by any means. Just as I finished my musing, goosebumps covered my body and the intense pull to get up and go to her returned, she must be headed back our way.  Harlow POV Yet again as I headed towards their table my body went nuts, my heart pounded into my ribcage, my knees weakened, the hair on my arms stood up straight, my head got fuzzy- all really bad things when your holding a tray with a fifth of Scotch, a pitcher of water, and ten glasses over your head. I heard the glasses clink together as I wobbled on my heels, I took deep steadying breaths and tried to calm myself. I don't understand what's happening to me. I am 22 and work in a freaking strip club in a huge city, I'd encountered more than my fair share of men, plenty of them good looking, and I'd never felt anything like I was now just being near one. I know I'd been celibate for a bit, but this was a ridiculous response on behalf of my body and I was not amused.  God was this man sexy though, the whole table of them were. Hands down one of the best looking friends groups I'd ever seen. They all had this delicious dark bad boy allure to them, they were chiseled beyond belief, and still very dapper.  Most of the guys I encountered at this hell hole job, regardless of how attractive they were, I never wanted anything to do with them ever again, but I craved more from this group in the very depths of my soul. How was I going to make it happen though?