Chapter 2 The Scent of Ash: Alpha Klaus' POV

"I have spent four years drowning my grief in the beds of a thousand different women, but tonight, a wolfless girl with a mouse’s voice made the whole world smell like a grave."

The tavern was a loud, filthy hole on the edge of the neutral territories.

Normally, I loved this chaos. I loved the way women looked at me—half-terrified, half-hungry. It helped me forget the hole in my chest where my mate’s heart used to beat.

"Sit," I barked, pointing to a stool in the corner.

Zoey sat. She didn't look at me. She kept her head down, her small hands folded in her lap. She looked so fragile, so useless. But ever since I touched her back in the Dust Pack hall, my skin had been crawling. My wolf was pacing in my mind, snarling at nothing.

"Hey, Alpha," a busty barmaid purred, leaning over the table. Usually, I would have had her on the table within minutes.

"You look like you need a distraction. That little thing in the corner looks like she’d break if you breathed on her too hard."

I smirked, leaning back in my chair.

"She’s a pet, sweetheart. Not a woman. Come here."

I grabbed the barmaid’s waist and pulled her onto my lap. My warriors cheered, their laughter echoing off the low ceiling. They were already pawing at the other girls in the room.

"I bet you’re better than a royal pup," one of my men yelled, slapping a girl’s thigh.

"That one over there probably doesn't even know how to moan!"

I ignored them, focusing on the woman in my lap. I ran my hand up her leg, waiting for the familiar spark of lust.

"So," I whispered in her ear, my voice dark.

"What can you do for me tonight?"

She giggled, her breath hot against my neck.

"Anything you want, Alpha. I’ve heard you like it rough. I can take it. I’m not a delicate little thing like your pet."

I tilted her head back to kiss her. I wanted to reclaim my own mind. I wanted to prove that the jolt I felt when I touched Zoey was just a fluke.

But as I leaned in, the air in the tavern suddenly changed.

A scent began to rise from the corner where Zoey sat. It was faint at first, then overwhelming. It was addictive. And it was making everything else in the room turn to rot.

The barmaid leaned in to kiss me but she suddenly smelled like decaying carcass. It was so bad I nearly gagged.

"Get off me!" I roared.

I threw her. She flew off my lap, crashing into a nearby table with a scream of pain. The tavern went dead silent. My warriors froze, their hands still on their own girls.

"Alpha?" my Beta, Jace, asked, his brow furrowed. "What’s wrong? She was just—"

"She’s foul!" I spat, standing up so fast my chair flipped over.

My heart was thundering. I looked at the barmaid, who was weeping on the floor. To my nose, she was a walking pile of garbage.

I turned my gaze to Zoey. She was looking at me now, her eyes wide with shock. She smelled like heaven. She smelled like the only clean thing in a world made of filth. And I hated her for it.

"You," I growled, pointing at her. "Upstairs. Now."

I grabbed her arm, my grip far too tight, and dragged her toward the stairs. I kicked open the door to a private room and shoved her inside, slamming the door behind us.

"What did you do?" I demanded, stalking toward her. My wolf was at the surface now, my claws pricking at my fingertips.

Zoey backed away until her heels hit the bed.

"I—I don't know what you’re talking about! I was just sitting there!"

"Don't lie to me, little mouse!" I snarled, slamming my hand against the wall next to her head.

"You’ve done something. A spell? A powder? Every woman in that room smells like a rotting corpse to me. I can't even look at them without wanting to vomit. But you..." I leaned in, my nose brushing her temple.

"You smell like a drug. You’ve ruined me."

Zoey’s voice trembled, but she didn't look away.

"I am wolfless, Klaus! I don't have magic. I don't have power. You saw my father—he would have killed me if I had hidden something like that. I’m just... me. Maybe it’s just your own guilt finally catching up to you."

"Guilt?" I laughed, a harsh, jagged sound.

"I don't feel guilt. I feel hunger. A hunger that is rotting my gut because it only wants one thing, and I refuse to give it to you."

"Then let me go!" she snapped, her eyes flashing with a spark of fire I hadn't seen before.

"If I’m such a curse to you, send me back! I didn't ask for this. I offered myself as your pet to save my pack, not to be your scapegoat for why you can't keep your hands on other women!"

I grabbed her shoulders, shaking her slightly.

"You don't get to tell me what to do! You are mine. You signed the contract with your own words. You are my pet, my toy. And if you’ve broken my ability to find pleasure elsewhere, then I will make your life a living hell."

"You’re being a coward," she whispered.

"A big, powerful Alpha who is scared of a girl with no wolf."

My vision blurred with red. My wolf screamed in my head, demanding I claim her, demanding I bite that soft neck until she belonged to us forever. I slammed her back against the wall, my body pressing into hers. She was so small, so soft, and she fit against me like a missing piece of a puzzle I never wanted to solve.

"I am not scared of you," I hissed, my fangs extending, the ache in my gums becoming unbearable.

"I am disgusted by you. If I can't touch anyone else, I'll make sure you regret the day you were born. I will use you until there is nothing left but ash."

I leaned in, my mouth inches from her throat. I intended to bite. I intended to hurt her, to mark her as mine in the most brutal way possible so this torture would end. But as my lips touched her skin, I didn't bite.

My entire body began to shake. A wave of heat washed over me, so intense it felt like my blood was boiling. I wasn't attacking her. I was trembling.

My forehead dropped to her shoulder, my breath coming in ragged, desperate gasps. I was the most powerful Alpha in the territory, and I was falling apart against a girl who didn't even have a claw to her name.

"What are you?" I choked out, my voice breaking.