Mated to the Devil

Chapter 3

We walked up the four short stairs leading towards the entrance of the new bar on campus. The bright blue neon sign above the large double oak doors caught my attention. The words "the splendid" shining back at me. I couldn't help but snicker and look at Ava, who also giggled thinking the name was a bit taboo for our small town.

The bouncer at the door didn't ask for ID, which surprised me because I generally always get asked and have to flirt my way out of it or sneak in behind Ava who was already 22. 

Once we stepped inside it felt like our entire world was immediately engulfed in neon luminescence blue, everything appearing to have a modern touch and an icy glow. T

To the right was a lounging area, large white leather 4 seater couches strategically placed in groups around white marble coffee tables. In the centre was an impressive, modern U shape bar, also in white marble matching the coffee tables and the iridescent white theme. Bottles of all shapes, colours and sizes sat behind the bar, neatly organised and illuminated by various coloured lights that seemed to alternate every so often. 

To the left was a dance area with a small DJ booth and a archway to the outside area which seemed to be the main attraction, we could see the buzz of people in the outside area through the arch, groups of people I recognised from around campus where scattered throughout the bar. This bar was definitely well on it's way to becoming a favourite in this town. We don't have anything quite so modern anywhere else in town. To say I now felt underdressed was an understatement.

I glanced over at Ava while we walked over to the bar, trying to pick our jaws up from the floor as we went.

"Okay so clearly we should have planned our outfits a little better", Ava gawked, pulling down her dress at the bust, no doubt trying to compensate for our clearly casual attire, I couldn't help but laugh at her efforts.

We leaned against the bar, waiting for the edgy bar tender to serve us next. I hadn't seen him around our small town before. He had a nose ring, tattoos covering most of his body, and plugs in his ears, but yet he was still boyishly handsome with his light brown hair brushed over to the right in a stylish comb over, and brown eyes that seemed to match his hair colour. I felt a bit nervous as I looked over at him, thinking he may just ask me for my ID.

After he had served the three guys before us he turned his attention towards Ava who order two margarita's for us and to my surprise he simply obliged without so much as a glance in my direction. 

HA! - Victory.

We walked across the dance floor towards the outside area, our margarita's in hand, the ice of which making my hand a bit numb. 

The outside area was much larger than inside, a wooden deck that seemed to go on for about 50 meters, with a large awning covering most of the area, and large white plastic high chairs surrounding clusters of high white round tables. I noticed that the trendy EDM music filtered out here as well from the dancefloor inside.

Ava scanned the crowd while I sipped on my margarita and checked my phone for texts, struggling to swallow down the strong vodka taste, my only saving grace the minty notes of flavour.

"Can I see your ID?", a deep voice bellowed behind me, startling me and making me pause as I was about to take another sip of my margarita.

Shit, what am I going to do now. 

I slowly turned around, fully prepared to accept my walk of shame being thrown out of the bar, realisation dawning on me as I stared into a familiar set of obsidian eyes.

My brother hurled over in laughter at the mortified look on my face. I knew I was as white as a sheet of paper no doubt.

I punched him in the arm as hard as I could without spilling my margarita.

"You d**k!" I laughed, feeling exposed by the attention I drew.

His face contorted in pain for a few seconds while he rubbed his arm before returning to the same cheesy grin I was used to.

As if doing a double take, he glanced over at Ava, who had just started having a conversation with a guy I didn't recognise to our left, he had a shaved head and a weird symbol neck tattoo I couldn't quite make out and hadn't seen before, it resembled a triangle with a eye in the middle, 

Definitely not Ava's type.

"She shouldn't be speaking to someone like that," Izaak nodded his head in Ava's direction, referring to the bald headed guy she was in conversation with.

"Why?" I asked, my voice laced with judgement. Izaak should not be judging a guy just based off the fact that he may look a bit dodgy. Hell, Izaak looks dodgy to most people as well with his constant seriousness about him to outsiders.

"That tattoo, it's a symbol of commitment to the Bloodmoon pack", he spat, his eyes narrowing a bit as if trying to decipher why this man was a long way from home.

"I wonder why he's here" eyeing the man myself while taking in a deep breath trying to get a hint of his scent, and to my surprise I couldn't smell anything besides the usual smells at a bar, liquor, sweat, cigarettes, drugs, and the warewolves who were here from our pack, each of which I knew by smell.

"I can't smell him", I wondered "he must be using some sort of masking spell?". Feeling my wolf start to snarl lowly in the back of my mind. 

Something wasn't right.

I made a move towards Ava to distract her and get her away from the strange man who dared step into another territory unannounced without causing a scene. As I took a step forward my brother grabbed my wrist pulling me back to his side.

"Wait. I want to see how this plays out a little" he fixed his gaze on the situation unfolding infront of us. "And you cant smell him because he isn't a warewolf, he's a vampire, cant you smell the light copper smell in the air?"

I took another deep breath, drawing in each scented note of my surroundings, and sure enough I smelt the copper, almost tasting it on the tip of my tongue. I don't know how I feel about using my best friend just to gain information on a straggler. I was tense, ready to spring at any moment.

Sensing I was on edge my brother mind linked me.

"The bloodmoon pack are involved in the shewolf trafficking, we need to see what his intentions are being so far from home"

I clenched my fists, anxiety fueling my muscles that seemed ready to snap like a rubber band.

Ava shook her head as if to say no and turned towards Izaak and I, making her way towards us. The strange vampire watching her walk away with a sickening smile on his face before he turned around and disappeared into the crowd. 

In an instant Izaak followed him into the crowd, following his scent with the determination of fully confronting him about his intentions within our territory.

"How creepy was that guy" Ava sneered, faking chills down her spine.

"What did he want?" I pressed, trying to hide the alarm in my voice to not freak her out.

"He wanted to buy me a drink, and after I insisted I already had one he asked if I wanted to buy anything..... else", she laughed, amused that anyone would think she were into drugs. I felt myself relax a little, but my wolf remained on edge.

"He's a vampire Ava, and his allegiance is to the pack that seems to be tied up in all this trafficking business" I whispered so no one would hear us.

Ava's eyes widened in shock as she took a big sip of her drink, trying to digest what I had just told her.

"Wow, he was really creepy, let's just get out of here" she popped her drink down on the table besides us.

I agreed with Ava and we started making our way through the crowd towards the large wooden doors we came through earlier. 

Remembering my brother went after the weirdo.

"Izaak, are you okay? need backup?" I called through the mind link.

"I'm fine, I'm about to corner him, Alpha Bran is on his way here to question him, go home", his authoritative voice drifted through my mind, ending the mind link.

We walked down the four stairs leading to the sidewalk and started walking the couple blocks towards my apartment block. I was thankful Ava lived two floors above me, the thought of her now walking around alone at night made me feel uneasy.

I tried to lighten the mood on our walk home. We spoke about what our plans would be for after graduation at the end of the year. Ava was studying to be a veterinarian and had plans to move to Washington to be closer to her family who were from there. Her grandmother raised her and she always felt a deep sense if love, respect and admiration for her. I often admired the way she spoke of her. My grandmother passed away when I was 10, she fought a long hard battle against cancer. Even warewolf's human Gene's weren't exempt from cancer.

Once we reached our apartment block, I walked Ava right up to her front door, a gesture she thought was over the top. But I didn't care, she was my best friend and I wanted to make sure she was safe, something about the bald vampire at the bar had my wolf on edge.

I climbed down the stairs to the floor my apartment was on, feeling the fatigue starting to set in. I turned the key to enter my apartment, and walked in, fully expecting to see Bryce either in the kitchen fixing a sandwich or on the couch asleep as he usually was when he waited up for me. The apartment was exactly how I had left it, sheet music and textbooks littered about. 

Bryce was asleep on the hideous green sofa, a beautiful contrast to something so hideous.

I walked closer and fully took him in. He looked so young when he slept, so gorgeous and so much younger. He was on his back, his arm was stretched out above his head, showing off his sculpted bicep, drawing me in further. My eyes trailed down his bicep and over his defined chest, lightly rising and falling while he was deeply asleep. The white quilted blanket that was normally on my bed was thrown over him, blocking my view from the rest if his perfect body. I pouted at the restricted view and reached my hand out instinctively to caress his face, but decided against it at the last minute. He looked so peaceful, I didn't want to wake him.

I was always relying on Bryce's comfort, when ever I was sad, angry, hurt, anxious, confused or even just overwelmed, Bryce would wrap me up in his arms and I swear I could tackle anything life threw at me. He was my safe place. I had to remind myself to stop relying on his addictive sense of comfort. I was going to be Luna, and I was determined to be the best dam Luna there was and that meant I needed to be strong in every sense of the word.

I turned on my heel and headed towards my ensuite bathroom. Eager to wash away the feelings of uneasiness from this evening. My wolf had not stopped pacing in the corners of my mind. She was anxious.

I walked into the simple bathroom. White tiles with lavender trimmings that had grown on me over time. I thought it was old fashioned and just plain ugly at first, but now I find it oddly calming. The shower sat to my left and the simple sink and vanity sat to my right. There wasn't much space in my bathroom, but I preferred it that way, I found something about a really foggy bathroom therapeutic.

I peeled off my clothes, chucking them into a pile in the corner and rolled my shoulders before I stepped into the warm shower, being careful not to wet my hair because I just washed it. I stayed in the shower for a couple minutes, allowing the warm water to work its magic, lulling my mind and body before I stepped out and wrapped a nearby towel around my body.

Once I walked out, my eyes snapped to Bryce, who was now sitting on the edge of the bed, sleep clear in his eyes and a sheepish smile on his face, his muscular six pack evident even as he sat down in his black track pants.

He stood up and walked towards me with his arm's outstretched. "I missed you tonight", pulling me into his arms for a hug, not caring as my damp body melted into his.

"I missed you too", I replied, snaking my hands around his back, surrounding myself in his familiar warmth.

"How was the bar?" He leaned back slightly to look at me with those cloudy grey eyes.

I told him about the bald vampire with the tattoo and Ava, and how Izaak had gone after him and said Alpha Bran was on his way. Almost immediately as I spoke the words, Bryces eyes glazed over, mind linking his father.

"My dad said they are still interrogating him" his face serious.

"I can't believe I slept through an intruder in our pacl" he chuckled and scratched his head, something he often did when be was stumped.

"It's okay, Izaak went all commando, he should have mind linked you and your dad", I said attempting to make Bryce feel better. I knew the hidden meaning behind his previous words. Bryce put a lot of pressure on himself to always be perfect, and that high standard came with a price that took it's toll on him.

I grabbed his face and planted a gentle kiss on his lips. The scent of mint filling my senses. Bryce looked at me for a second, his eyes burning with need before he tucked a piece of hair behind my ear that was grazing my damp cheek, leaning closer to seal his lips against mine, 

His kiss was gentle and lovingly at first. Then he became more urgent, sucking at my bottom lip demanding entrance to my mouth, to which I happily obliged matching every one of his deep tongue strokes with mine.

His hand started gliding from my forearms to my shoulder and down towards my  breasts where the towel sat firmly in place, leaving goosebumps in it's wake. He paused and lightly tugged on my towel causing it to come undone and pool at my ankles, I felt my cheeks flame at my naked flesh, even though Bryce had seen me naked before. 

His hands landed on my hips, his kiss deepening and becoming more relentless as he pulled me closer. I could smell his arousal in the air. I clenched my thighs in response, trying to remain composed. Bryce and I had done things before, not sex... yet, we agreed to save that for when we were mated. But this felt different.

My hands acted on their own accord, dragging my fingernails down his back, pushing my naked body against his bare chest, our lips locked in a feverish kiss that had butterflies dancing in my stomach. Bryce moved his hands from my hips to my ass, squeezing slightly as he moaned into my mouth.

"You're so perfect Arabella Wilson" he muttered. Planting light kisses from my lips down my jaw and down my neck, while his hand trailed towards my already wet slit, the contact making my face flame a more brilliant shade of pink.

He gently rubbed circles on my clit, while sucking on my neck, causing me to moan out in pleasure, which he responded by increasing his speed and pressure on the sensitive bud between my legs. Just as I started to feel that familiar tugging sensation, letting me know I was getting close to an orgasm, he abruptly stopped.

After a few seconds of feeling weirdly awkward at the sudden halt, I leaned back to look at his face and see if he was okay. I was met with a glazed over expression, letting me know someone had mind linked him. 

"I'm so sorry babe, I have to go" he said removing his warm hands from my body, his shoulders visibly slumping,  I knew he felt as disappointed as I did from the lack of contact.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, concerned about what would be so urgent to mind link at this time of night, knowing it has to be about the Bloodmoon Pack vampire.

"The vampire isn't talking, my dad asked me to come down and assist with interrogations " he spoke looking for his Tshirt on my bed, before slipping it on while I picked up my towel and my ego, to fasten around me again.

"Do you want me to come with you?" I asked, secretly hoping he would say yes.  

"No, the cells are no place for a future luna", he winked at me and planted a kiss on my forehead.

"I love you, I'll call you later" he called leaving the room.

"Love you too", I yelled after him.

I grabbed a pair of black pair of hot shorts and a tank top from my closet and got dressed.

I flopped onto my bed. Physically and mentally exhausted from my day. I texted Ava to make triple sure she was okay before I rolled over and began my nightly ritual of tossing and turning and scribbling notes on sheet music from the music that formed in my mind until sleep eventually took over.