Chapter 3 - Astrid

"A round of shots, please," Bianca reaches over the bar in her silver sequined top that catches the light of the neon bar.

The bartender, short-haired, bleach blond, two black voids for eyes, nods and immediately whips up two glasses with blue liquid, despite the growing crowd requesting for their orders to be taken first.

"Enjoy, Princess," he offers the shots with a wink. Around here, people like to call Bianca 'Princess' on account of her being the Alpha's only daughter. Personally, I find it a tad condescending, but Bianca doesn't mind the attention.

We cheers and she toasts, "To friendship!" I fight the urge to roll my eyes for the thousandth time today and guzzle down my shot. It stings the back of my throat with its sickly sweetness but jolts me awake. I shout over the loud music for the bartender to pour us another round. He gives me a nasty side-eye sneer, but obliges my request.

I've grown used to that contemptuous look from vampires. They're not too fond of tigers, given that we basically kicked their ass during the Lycan War. My dad's excellent scouting skills have also been the cause of many an unauthorized coven's destruction. But the bartender can judge me all he wants with his pretentious black contact lenses that cover more than just the natural span of his irises—an edgy trend they like to use to scare humans.

I take the second shot and breathe out hot evaporated alcohol.

"I wanted to make another toast, but that's fine," Bianca says as she throws her head back for the second shot.

Looking around me, the men and women are clad in shimmery, glittery, shiny clothes, much like the co-ord sequined set Bianca is wearing, reflecting the large multi-coloured strobe light hanging above the middle of the dance floor. I, on the other hand, didn't feel much up to dressing for the occasion, so I threw on a black tank top, ripped jeans and a pair of lace-up boots, with my wavy black hair hanging loosely just below my shoulders.

"Come on," Bianca grabs me and excitedly ushers me to the dance floor.

We jump up and down and dance to the electronic beat. Bianca's eyes are closed to the rhythm of the music, but I can feel the numerous male gazes on us and especially on her. With her mass of blonde hair and her mirror-like outfit, she stands out like an angel on the dance floor. For once since our arrival, I look down and feel a little self-conscious with my minimal ensemble.

A heavily remixed dubstep track starts playing and Bianca boos.

"Goddess, I hate this," she yells over the loud track, walking a thin line between music and plain noise. She looks over to the DJ. "He always sneaks one of these in. I hate it!" She throws her hands up, exasperated.

It sounds like senseless racket, but the syncopated beat and deep heart-pumping bass is so horrible, it seems to clear my anxious thoughts away.

"Wanna go to the ladies' room?" Bianca asks over the noise.

"You go ahead," I respond, feeling myself groove to this garbage music.

She shakes her head and scoffs then disappears into the crowd.

Over the stuttering beat and dirty synth, I hear across the distance, a very loud man with almond skin, deeply enjoying himself in the company of the infamous Vexxen twins. They are beautiful dark-haired witches, who like to lure men with their wicked enchantments. Nothing illegal though, I think. A little incestuous, maybe. And very creepy. By the looks of it, the swarthy-skinned stranger is deep in a drunken enchantment, though he looks strong enough to handle any side-effects.

I shiver and return back to the bar to order another shot. This time, however, the bartender is gutsy enough to talk back now that Bianca's not with me.

"Back of the line," he snaps at me. But there is no line, only waves of drunken people.

I glare at the pompous jerk, but wait patiently as is proper etiquette. Bianca will get here soon enough.

"I'll have a whiskey and the lady will have a shot."

A very tall man appears right beside me with a curly dark lock of hair resting above his brow that reminds me of Superman. His nose slopes down straight like a Grecian sculpture. His voice is cool and bares a strange accent I've rarely heard, the vibrations of which tickle my ears. There is a sudden minty aroma emanating from his being, which subconsciously makes me straighten my shoulders and hike up my chest.

The undead bartender nods his head profusely and noticeably shakes while he pours out our drinks. He hands them over, spilling a bit of mine on account of his trembling hands.

"Alpha," he says as he bows his head then gives me a quick glance and gets back to his job.

Guess I shouldn't be surprised an Alpha is out here enjoying the supernatural club scene. But when he turns his head and flashes a pair of blue and black mismatched eyes at me, my stomach drops.

The black Alpha eye.

The Lycan Alpha smiles rather smugly at me, and of course he would. He is as close to royalty as it gets in the supernatural world. I almost feel the urge to reject the shot he ordered for me or maybe even splash it back at his face. That ought to neutralize his arrogant yet annoyingly charming expression.

"I'm Rio Xenakis, Alpha of Midnight Shadow," he announces to me, with an accent I should have recognized, as if everybody in this place wouldn't instantly recognize the black Alpha eye. "And you are?"

He must be so used to people immediately falling at his feet and declaring everything about themselves for him to think I'd answer that question.

"Leaving," I reply bluntly.

In the blink of an eye, he snatches my wrist. I almost get whiplash when I turn around to protest. But his firm grip sends a little spark of electricity down the length of my arm that makes me question if I'm uncomfortable or comforted by his touch. His eyes appear half-closed as he takes a deep inhale, which I mindlessly mirror, the hint of salivation making itself known at the back of my mouth from his strangely delicious minty musk.

The Lycan Alpha inches closer to me and I feel alarmed. Wait till Bianca hears her betrothed is a Casanova, who looks devastatingly handsome and smells really good.

"What are you?" his voice is smooth and cool like whiskey on the rocks.

For a second, his mismatched eyes have me in a trance and I open my mouth to speak. But I catch myself in a momentary lapse of judgment.

"Let me go," I growl deeply, feeling the glow of my eyes turning yellow.

His blue-black eyes widen a little. He looks to be processing something in his mind. Perhaps heeding the warning of a scorned woman, or taking a chance despite the warning.

In a moment, he swiftly grabs my waist with his other hand and pulls me in. Before I can object, he kisses me.

A tsunami of butterflies unexpectedly explodes and flutters around the pits of my stomach. I'm experienced enough in the realm of kissing, but I circle through my thoughts as to why I would feel this way recognizing the fact that this is completely wrong. The Lycan Alpha pulls me even closer as his kiss becomes more demanding, driving away any and all of my thoughts so it feels like only the two of us are present in this moment. My body slackens as if it knew his strong arms would catch it even if my knees were to buckle under the force of this kiss, which I reciprocate.

I reciprocate?

Energy and will surge back into my body and I push the Lycan Alpha away. I am breathless and so is he. The look on his brow is pure confusion, while I'd reckon mine is of pure ire.

"How dare you kiss me while engaged to another," I chide.

And that confuses him even more. The engagement between the Alpha of Midnight Shadow and the Princess of Silver Bow is, for now, a secret only privy to family and Betas I'm sure.

I hold my head up high and look deep into his blue-black eyes. "I am Astrid Lee, tigress of Silver Bow. And you, Alpha Xenakis, are engaged to my best friend."

The Lycan Alpha seems to be taken aback, scowling for a second. "Tigress?" he repeats, as if that was the central conflict of the problem at hand, and not the fact that he is engaged.

"Bianca will not be pleased to hear about this," I reprimand, then realize, indeed, she won't be pleased. Maybe even enough to reconsider this engagement. I feel myself grin maliciously at the thought, but the Lycan Alpha doesn't seem to even care.

"You may tell her if you want," he says without a hint of concern that I could be breaking up their betrothal. "But then you'd also have to tell her this," and he steps closer so our faces are two inches apart. "You are my destined."

I reflexively laugh a little too hysterically. I? Me? His destined? What stupid game is he trying to play?

"Go ahead." He gestures a hand dismissively as he leans back against the bar nonchalantly and sips his whiskey. His blue-black eyes are dark and mischievous.

My eyes glow brighter with even more irritation at his challenging tone as if I were the fool in this situation.

I stomp off to find Bianca.