Stealing the Alpha’s Heart
Chapter 3

LYSSA

“Why, don’t you look lovely this evening!”

I sent the doorman a grin, doing a little spin. His comment might seem creepy coming from anybody else, but he was such a genuine, friendly older guy that it didn’t set off my alarm bells. He was almost like Santa if Santa went on a diet and cut his hair short.

“Thank you!” I said brightly. I still felt pretty and was excited to see my friends.

“You have fun now, and don’t forget to stay hydrated!”

“I will; don’t you worry about me!”

I headed to the door but spotted a group of well-dressed men before I exited. They were all rather strapping gentlemen for being older, broad-shouldered with somewhat imposing auras surrounding them.

But I didn’t care about that as much as I cared about how wealthy they looked —especially the gentleman with the large, black duster. I could recognize the genuine leather even from where I was standing and knew it must have cost quite a pretty penny.

I knew I wasn’t supposed to pickpocket around where I lived. I knew it. And yet the temptation was almost irresistible.

That amount of money was borderline life-changing. Wait, no, I knew it was certifiably life-changing. I scrimped and scavenged for everything I had. The idea of just being able to buy groceries for the month without obsessively calculating what everything cost was mind-boggling. I could afford to take the bus instead of walking everywhere! Maybe even get some new shoes!

I could even lie low for a long while. The issue with being a good pickpocket was that doing it too much in one area was dangerous. Although I worked hard to hit different places all over town, it would be nice not to have to.

Still, I knew I shouldn’t risk it.

Even if I really, really, and — add a whole lot more really — wanted to.

Don’t do it, Lyssa… I warned myself.

Easier said than done, and that same temptation grew that much stronger when the guy in the duster pulled out his wallet, and I spotted the thickest, fattest stack of cash I’d ever seen out in the wild. That was far too much to pass up. I’d have to be a saint, and I was far from a saint.

And yet I still found myself exiting the building. Still found myself walking toward them. Still found myself eyeing them from the corner of my eye to try to replace my mark.

And I still tripped and ran right into one of them.

Oops.

It was old hat by now, picking a pocket, and I made the move as easily as I breathed.

Naturally, he rushed to catch me, as most men did, and so did the men around him. It was only then that I realized that one of the well-dressed rich guys was the same man I spotted in the lobby.

Suddenly all I could smell was his scent, rich and inviting. It filled my nostrils, dragging me into feelings of familiarity and nostalgia. And — wait, was I drooling? I was pretty sure I was drooling, but I couldn’t be bothered to care. I wanted to be closer to that man, closer to that scent, to let it envelop me until all my worries about money, my future, and everything else was just a distant echo.

“Miss! Are you all right?”

Oh, wait.

I shook my head, realizing the man was holding my arm, looking at me with concern. Right, I was in the middle of pickpocketing. I needed to get clear of the scene before anyone realized what was happening.

“Oh, sorry, I’m fine! Just wasn’t paying attention!”

But it was hard not to be completely captivated by the man gripping me, his scent and presence swirling around my head like a specter.

“That’s all right, darling,” my mark said in a borderline sleazy way. And by borderline, I meant completely. Totally. Without a doubt, sleazeball. Why were old men so gross sometimes?

Well, I didn’t want to stick around and replace out just how grody he might be, or to have him catch me, so that was my cue to leave.

With little more than that, I hurried off, ducking my head to try to stop them from being able to see my features. Although it was probably too late for that, considering I’d been staring like a dodo while getting drunk off the guy’s scent.

Which was utterly bizarre. I’d always had a somewhat sensitive sense of smell, but it had never been so extreme that I was frozen in place by a guy’s cologne with a mark’s wallet thick in my hand.

Maybe it was some sort of psychosis brought on by stress. Maybe the guy just had really good detergent. Who knew? All I was certain of was that I needed to get away.

I ducked into the closest alley and power-walked toward my ex’s. I would enjoy our last party before graduation much better with the serious windfall I just had.

“May I have your ticket, sir?”

I hesitated momentarily, my hearing — which was already pretty keen without being hopped up on adrenaline — picking up what had to be the valet.

“One moment, I put it in my wallet.”

Shit.

My heart immediately started racing, and I picked up the pace. It was important not to run from lifting scenes because it would draw undue attention, but at least I was out of sight.

“Wait, my wallet isn’t here!”

“Did you leave it in the restaurant?”

“No, I just checked it. It must have been…”

“The girl!”

Yeah, I had been made.

Footsteps started to rush after me, and I broke into a full-blown sprint. I hadn’t been caught in years and wasn’t anxious to repeat that experience. It was much easier to slip out of handcuffs when I was a kid.

“She went this way!”

Crap! I didn’t know how they were following me so easily, but I quickly darted into another side alley and then another. I hoped my zigzag pattern would lose them because what could rich people know about the city’s backstreets?

My plan seemed to work as I made a good distance. I paused, trying to quiet my breathing so I could hear. It was hard to make out anything over the thundering of my heart, but it seemed like I was in the clear.

Heaving a long sigh of relief, I wiped my forehead and turned around the corner. It was nice to take my pace down to a brisk walk and catch my breath.

Only to have a pair of hands grab me and pull me into another alley.

“You!”

And suddenly I was face to face with several men from the group I’d just lifted from, including the one in the duster. How had the geezers caught up to me so quickly? I was pretty athletic, and they were… Well, they were old.

“Hey, let go of me!” I yelled. I’d been in several close scrapes in my life and knew the last thing I wanted to do was admit guilt. There was always the chance of bluffing in a situation or even returning the wallet to his person on the sly.

But before I could do any sleight of hand to get myself in the clear, the man started to search my pockets. I jerked in the grip of whoever was holding me, but their hands were like iron bars. Geez, these old men were strong!

It didn’t take the man long to replace the wallet and pull it out, cash almost glistening to me. Internally, I cursed myself, wishing I’d tossed it into a trashcan to come and collect it later. That would have been the smart thing to do. Since when did I take such stupid risks?

“Do you have any idea who you’ve dared to mug?”

The man’s lips curled in anger, and I could feel danger rolling from him. Uh… I may have bitten off more than I could chew.

Fear bubbling in my stomach, I tried to get free again, yanking this way and that, but I was stuck fast. That wouldn’t do, so I lifted my foot and slammed my heel right into the top of my captor’s shoes.

“Ow!”

Whoever it was let me go, and I darted to the side, ready to bolt while I could, but I was caught again almost instantly. I fought back, pushing and shoving, but his grip was like iron.

“I want to help you, but you’re gonna have to calm down,” the man hissed. I finally looked up to see that it was the man from the lobby. His voice was so low that I doubted any of the others could hear, especially since I barely could.

Oh.

His scent was even stronger face to face, and my eyelids fluttered as it flooded over me. I felt drawn to him in a way that couldn’t be resisted. It was as inevitable as it was enticing, like a whirlpool slowly tugging me in. But I was so terrified out of my mind that the drooling and haziness didn’t overcome me as it had before.

“You’re going to learn a painful lesson today,” the duster guy growled, his voice more animal than man.

But the man from the lobby cleared his throat, giving the advancing elder pause. “Alpha Cyprus, I apologize deeply for this. Please, let me handle this since this is my territory.”

Alpha? Territory? What is he talking about?

My gaze fluttered between the two; my body so hopped up on adrenaline that I thought I was going to be sick.

I couldn’t help but think of my friends. If something happened to me, what would they do? Would they worry about where I was? Would they think that I just ghosted? I didn’t have a phone, so it wasn’t like they could text me to see if I was okay, and I certainly had never invited them to the apartments I squatted in.

But the advancing older man, Cyprus or whatever, was apparently not buying whatever lobby-man was selling because he just shook her head.

“No. No one disrespects my pack or me. I haven’t lived this long by allowing anybody to make us appear weak!”

There was more of that strange language. Had I inadvertently gotten myself involved with the mob? Was that even a thing anymore?

I was prepared for lobby-man to push me forward, because why would he stick his neck out to defend me from a guy who clearly was powerful and used to getting his way? But instead, he let out a low growl. It was almost animalistic, and something within me reacted as if he’d just shouted that he wanted to tear my guts out with his teeth.

That… that was a strange sound for a human to make, right? And it was even stranger that it made my body respond like it was interested, my b***d rushing through me in a very different way than earlier.

“I apologize if I phrased that as a question. It was not. I will be handling this situation.”

Lobby-man’s tone was suddenly just as scary as Cyprus’s, and I couldn’t help but wonder exactly what I’d gotten myself involved with. It seemed kinda gangster-ish, and yet they didn’t look or sound like what I envisioned someone like that to be.

Whatever the truth, I was caught between a rock and a hard place, and I had no idea which side would be better.

“Mahlan-” Cyprus started.

But suddenly, Mahlan shifted his grip on me, grabbing me by the back of my neck. And just as suddenly, I was filled with a floaty, comforting sensation that made me want to nap. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been so relaxed, and my eyelids fluttered yet again.

Maybe I should not go to the party and lie down instead. Or take a nice hot bath. Then again, it felt like I was in a bath already, all warm and comforted. Surely, nothing bad could happen when I felt so nice.

His scent came over me again, five times more potent than before, and every urge I had to run away pretty much evaporated. How could I ever not want that smell in my life? It spoke of power and safety. Strength and home. Things that I’d desperately longed for longer than I could say.

But then I was yanked in close to the… What was his name? Melon? No, that wasn’t right. Mehron?

Mahlan! That was it!

My moment of triumph was undercut, however, when his grip on me tightened, and I felt his lips at the side of my neck. That was all the warning I had before suddenly he bit me!

I let out a scream as his teeth sank into the side of my neck, alarm burning through the ephemeral sort of contentment that had clouded my mind. Trust my luck to accidentally pickpocket a group of cannibals or something like that! I was going to die. I was going to die alone and be made into a meat pie for some rich, old geezers to gobble up!

But then the man’s sharp, sharp teeth sank further into my skin and something impossible happened.

Pleasure, undiluted pleasure shot through me, along with a pervasive wave of happiness. Out of nowhere, I felt like I’d just shot up a million and one drugs all at once, sending me into the stratosphere of euphoria.

I couldn’t stand on my own anymore, and Mahlan went from holding me in place to supporting me entirely. But I didn’t care about any of that mess anymore. I just wanted to curl up with a wonderfully warm blanket and let myself enjoy the pleasure racking my body.

I could somewhat blearily make out Cyprus looking at me, Mahlan, then me again.

“She’s mine now, so I will be handling her.”

Wait, what now?

But I couldn’t quite focus on it as my hand pressed against the bite mark on my neck, more endorphins rushing through me at the movement. Did he inject me with something? It was the only logical thing my sluggish brain could settle on. It wasn’t like human bites typically had psychedelic side effects.

“And things were going so well….” Cyprus remarked, plenty of threat in his tone.

“There’s no reason this has to escalate.”

But Cyprus didn’t look like he was calming down, and Mahlan held me closer in response. Conflicting feelings trickled through me along with the happiness, and it was hard to make sense of it all.

On the one hand, I was pretty sure I was getting kidnapped, which definitely wasn’t good. But I also felt like I could trust the man holding me; he was a refuge from the advancing threats.

Why, oh, why had I gotten greedy? I knew better!

That answer didn’t come to my addled mind, even as Cyprus’s visage grew redder and angrier.

“You really would mate yourself to a street rat? Is that the way you want to start your pack as a new alpha?”

There was that weird-a*ss language again. What were they talking about? They didn’t look like the normal gym-bros who used that kind of talk. Although, it was kind of funny to imagine the elderly, well-dressed men all banging out some heavy sets with a barbell.

“I will concern myself with that.”

“This is foolish, young man.”

Many things happened all at once. Out of nowhere, Mahlan handed me over to another man I hadn’t noticed. He was slighter than the rest of them, and his aura was less threatening.

But with me out of the way, it was Mahlan’s turn to suddenly advance on Cyprus, startling the older man backward as he snarled.

“This is my territory, and you would do well not to overstep your bounds!”

“Are you an idiot?” another one of the older men snapped.

“No, but I will not stand by and allow my mate to be talked to like that or threatened in the heart of my territory! I will make sure that she is properly reprimanded, so leave!”

The authority in his voice made me shiver, which caused the pleasant furor in me to rise higher. I liked that he was all bossy and strong in a way that I couldn’t understand or explain.

What the hell was going on with me?

“Come,” the man who was holding me gently said. “We should get some distance.”

“Herrmm?” I asked sloppily. Oh, yeah, totally brilliant. I’m a real diplomat with that one.

But the smaller man helped me stumble/float a few feet away, so I was less in the thick of it. And just in time, too, because suddenly the men in front of me exploded into wolves.

“What the hell?”

That couldn’t be right. I blinked and blinked again, yet that was exactly what happened. One moment they’d been two human males, and then the next, fur had erupted from their skin as they fell forward, their arms and legs bending, cracking, and making all sorts of sounds they shouldn’t make. It happened too fast to be possible, and yet it stood out as a horrific montage in slow motion in my mind.

I was definitely going to have nightmares for the next few months.

The shock of it was finally able to cut through my euphoria like a hot knife through butter. They must have given me a hallucinogen because the alley suddenly had a pair of dueling wolves twice the size than they should have been.

I couldn’t be there a moment longer, that much I knew. It burned through every functional part of my mind.

Desperate, I elbowed the man holding me in the stomach, then swung my head back, so my skull connected with his chin. It wasn’t enough to drop him, but it did give me enough slack to rip myself out of his grip.

Wild out of my mind, I didn’t look back as I sprinted off. I didn’t know where I could be safe from drug-peddling mobsters who also were somehow animals, but the only thing I could think of was going to the school.

Surely there, I would be safe.