Chapter 1: Thaniel

I sat in my oxblood leather armchair in front of my stone fireplace, swirling my glass of whiskey in my hand. I always liked to look presentable. I was the Alpha, the top man in my pack and I couldn't look to be anything but. Not that I really took my title seriously. I didn't ask to be cursed by a damn vexing woman. She had played me, dragged me in and made me fall until she could put something in my drink. Most of us are here because of some sort of magic. Some corrupted witches that decided to not play fair. Some might call them selkies or sirens, we just call them vexing women. And mine played me hard.

I knew what my best attributes were and what my worst ones were, but it varied depending on the woman in my bed. One thing I knew for sure, I had a massive primal kink that could strangle a city. Most women found me to be terrifying, but a few were into it. It wasn't my fault that I couldn't control my urge to growl and pin a bitch to a bed. My urges to run my nose along their neck and take in their scent points behind their earlobes like a starved man that hadn't partaken in his darkest vice. I craved it, needed it, but I wasn't down for finding a mate. I enjoyed being alone. I enjoyed not having to worry about someone else. I just wanted to break my damn curse and not have to live this life. But everyone in this lifestyle knew one thing, there was no breaking it. Once a wolf? Always a wolf. You were a part of the pack until the day you were put in the damn ground like some forgotten sad soul. I was trapped. Trapped to become a wolf until the day I died and who knew how fucking long that would take.

I cleared my throat and focused on the crackling fire. I had been told that I had to find an Omega soon, but I hadn't come across one that I had liked. I had been to many parties, all fancy, but I had never found her. I had never found the right mate, not that I wanted to. Like I said, I lived for being alone and fucking whatever and whoever my heart desired. Fuck the other shit.

Daniel Thate, my Beta best friend and right-hand man, had been giving me shit for years about it. It wasn't like it was my fault that women were scared of me. Most of them that is.

I sighed and a corner of my lips curled up to showcase a fang as I brought my glass of whiskey to my lips, taking a long sip. My fangs ached to sink into a woman's neck, but I wasn't in the mood to hunt.

I honestly don't know what it is about me that is so intimidating. I mean I am a tall man and I have broad shoulders, and maybe I am a bit overly muscular, but I am a good man. A damn fine man if you ask me. But sometimes the outside outweighed the inside. If I'm honest, I'm lonely. I want to settle down and have a few kids. I'm thirty and by now most of my friends have settled down with a couple kids under their belt. And all I have to say for thirty is a lavish home and this damn glass of whiskey that is currently in my hand. God damnit.

"Hey, are you heading to this party with me over at the club?" Daniel barged into the room and pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.

He was slightly less muscular and shorter than I. His medium toned brown hair was pulled back in a high ponytail and his shirt was a crimson red. His black leather pants had crisscrossing leather along the sides of them and his black ankle boots were loose.

"I'm serious, man. You need to come out sometime. Evie has some hot friends. I'm sure you'll find your Omega there." Daniel smiled at me with this shit-eating grin that only showcased how hard he was trying to get my ass out there in the playing field with him, even though the damn bastard was taken. I set my jaw and quietly growled as I brought my whiskey up to finish it. "C'mon man, don't leave me hanging like last time..."

I sighed and threw my glass into the fire, causing it to flare up and shatter. I lacked all fucks at the moment. If he wanted me to go, fuck it, I'd go. I'd prove him wrong. No woman would really want to settle down with me. Fuck me? Sure. Settle down? Hell no. I was the type you took home to fuck, not bring home to your mother. I brought the black military styled boot that was resting on my thigh to the ground, as I grabbed onto the arms of the chair and pushed myself up to stand.

"Fuck it. You want me to go, I'll go." I walked out of the room and heard Daniel follow me out of the room.

"Thaniel. You're gonna meet the right Omega. I'm telling you. Just give it time." Daniel continued to follow me and while I loved the little shit, he annoyed me to death.

"I'm just going to humor you." I sighed and got to my car, unlocking it with the key fob. "What club is it at?"

"Barbed Rose on Eve's Street." Daniel climbed into the passenger side, and I slammed the car into gear. "You really think that no woman is gonna want that amazing body of yours? How many women you take home on the daily?"

I growled at him. It didn't matter how many were in my damn bed. Not one single one wanted to fucking stay with my ass. It always ended in the girl leaving because I meant so little other than a quick railing.

"Who's all going to be there?" I tried to focus on the road and not on my best friend, who was too excited for me to go to some party. I partially wondered if he had planned something for me there to surprise my ass. I hated surprises.

"Oh, ya know... the usual. Evie, Vix, Jason, Mike, Christian, more. The whole pack and their Chosens." Daniel shrugged and I nearly slammed his face into the dash when I hit the break.

"Christian?" I hated him, absolutely despised the man. He was the biggest asshole of them all. One of those men that used women and felt they were his property.

"Chill. He won't be trouble. He gave up on that years ago." Daniel tried to calm me down, not that he could.

"To hell he won't be. The man reeks fucking trouble. Prove me wrong," I shouted, and pulled up to the valet parking at the club. "His ass so much as causes a scene among the human public so help me god."

"Don't worry, big shot. Jesus. Evie bought out the damn club. No humans will be within a twenty-mile radius tonight." Daniel rolled his eyes at me and touched my forearm that wouldn't stop flexing. The veins pressing against my skin were about to bust.

"You better not be lying to me." I growled through my clenched teeth, showing off my fangs and wolf-like golden eyes.

"Shit you not, man." Daniel raised his hands in the air and my eyes shifted back to their normal warm brown color.

"I'm trusting you. One fuck up by Christian and I'm out." I shoved my thumb over my shoulder with a jabbing motion.

That man was the worst Alpha to exist in our pack and I hated him with a fucking passion. The man could roast in fucking flames in the underworld with Hades for all I cared. He was sadistic and cruel. No bone in my body can appreciate a man that doesn't appreciate a woman. Human or not.

I tossed my key to the valet and walked up to the club, adjusting my black silk button-down shirt's rolled sleeves. I didn't know why I had fucking decided to go here. Why did I want to be subjected to this? The bouncer at the front door was a friend of ours and Daniel fist bumped him before entering the joint. I gave the man a quick nod before getting engulfed by loud club music that bumped and vibrated off the walls.

"Sugar, you made it!" Evie ran up to her husband in six-inch heels that had my mind wondering how many surfaces they fucked on with them.

I shook my head and sighed, ignoring how my best friend gathered her up into his arms and made out with her like there was nothing better to do. Like I wasn't in the damn room. I took my leave and made my way over to the bar, a place that I'd rather be. Drinking always made me feel better and made these parties more bearable.

I had barely gotten my beer in my hand before a hand clapped onto my back. I nearly spilled my drink as I jumped from the interaction with an unknown presence.

"Hey, how ya been, mate?" I recognized Jason's voice with ease. He was from Australia and had been a resident for a few years now.

"Fine. Don't you have something better to do than give me small talk?" I lifted my beer to my lips and took a swallow of it.

"Look, mate, I haven't seen ya in ages. You don't come out much." He tapped the bar and ordered a dark lager.

"Not really my thing." I shrugged and took another sip from my beer. It wasn't as good as it could have been. I should have ordered something stronger.

"Yeah well, we missed ya." Jason knocked his beer against mine before walking away.

It wasn't until I heard a commotion behind me that I really cared about what was going on around me. I had barely even listened to Evie's speech or to any of the other Omegas that had walked up to me. I was lost in my own thoughts about what I was even doing there. Why I was there. I could be sitting at home playing a game or watching TV. But one thing I could not ignore was the sounds of a woman struggling behind me. It was then that I knew I was going to get my ass in trouble.

"Let go of me! I'm not some plaything to be had!" A female voice echoed past the crowd of people talking and drinking, filling my ears with her voice alone.

It wasn't a tone that I wanted to hear tonight. It wasn't even something I wanted to ever hear. It was a woman in distress and the voice that accompanied it was one that I really, really, hoped wouldn't be connected to it.

"C'mon, baby girl, let me show you what a real Alpha can do. You don't know what it's really like until you been in bed with an Alpha male."

Changed his old ways my ass. Christian Alpine, the one and only asshole. A man that closely resembled a damn monster rather than a man. He was no Alpha male; he was an abomination. A mistake that deserved to be cursed. He had practically begged for the damn bitch to curse him. No normal, decent human would beg for a vexed woman to curse them.

"I don't want you. I didn't even want to come to this damn thing. You dragged me here against my will like you- like you owned me!" The woman struggled and tugged on the chain that was connected to a metal collar around her neck.

I wasn't having this shit. I could just walk out right now like I had planned. I told my fucking best friend I'd walk if Christian pulled this bullshit again, but he had told me he had changed. Lies! The man was right there, tugging a woman around by a fucking collar and leash against her will. He had defiled a beautiful thing. A collar was meant to be something special. Something that meant commitment in some cases. A sentiment of love and respect. A symbol of something more. Not what he was using it for.

I sniffed the air and one word fell into my mind. Human.