He inadvertently slammed the door shut behind him, locking it and chucking the key onto his desk. It was piled high with old clothes - all Helena's, salvaged from their house in the hopes that her scent would help calm him down.

But it hadn't worked. It had only riled him up even more, his wolf going berserk in its blind search for his mate that would never soothe him again. The only reason they were still in his room was because he couldn't bring himself to throw them out.

He sighed and stripped out of his dirty clothes, the cool air hitting his skin and raising goosebumps. He stepped into the bathroom and didn't bother closing the door, turning the shower and waiting for the water to heat up. He glanced at himself in the mirror, glaring at the dark circles under his eyes, the gray of his irises dull. If Helena was still around, she would have chastised him for how dead tired he looked, and she probably would have told him to get a haircut.

It had gotten pretty long, in all fairness. The ends brushed his shoulders, curling gently. He preferred to keep it tied back and out of his face, and it was easier to do that when his hair was this long. With a sigh, he shoved away from the basin and stepped into the shower, hissing when the water hit his hands. The boiling water hit his split knuckles with the kind of force that made his knees weak, and he resisted the urge to yank his hands out of the stream. It was the kind of pain he had to bear, for losing track and hurting himself.

As much as he wanted to stand under the hot spray for hours, he had responsibilities, and he needed to be present at the meeting. He made quick, thorough work of cleaning himself, careful to steer clear of the ache hanging between his thighs and begging for attention.

With a barely restrained grunt, he got out of the shower, drying himself off and walking back into his room, the sweat and grime finally off of his skin.

He was probably late, but he didn't care to check his phone for the time being, opening his closet and pointedly ignoring the heap of shirts on his desk. He dressed quickly, pulling on dark wash jeans, a black T-shirt and his old Converse sneakers that may have once been red but had turned an earthy black with age and, well, the forest.

He didn't bother toweling his hair; it was way too hot and the cool water dripping off the ends and down his back helped cool him off.

Without another glance at the mirror or the messy state his room had been left in, he walked out. He made his way back down to his private office, where he found the rest of his sentries already waiting.

"Morning Alpha," they chorused, and Marcus nodded before taking his seat at the head of the table that lay in front of his desk. He was grateful that this one room hadn't been destroyed by the previous Alpha and still felt like home. The huge boardroom table took up most of the space, but it was perfect for meetings like these, where he needed most of the warrior wolves present.

"Let's discuss the borders, shall we? 

The meeting had droned on for far too long before Marcus had raised his hand and called for a break. The wolves gathered around the table had complied immediately, keeping their heads low as Marcus walked out, itching to stretch his sore muscles out and grab some water from the kitchen.

Even though he had been the one to call for the meeting, he hadn't expected the wolves to present so many problems with less than half the solutions they should have thought about. All they had to talk about was that they were tired and couldn't facilitate the shifts that were required on patrols at the borders.

Marcus had already come up with a few solutions, but it frustrated him that none of them had come to him with viable options to their problems. Maybe it was just his impending rut making him short-fused and easily aggravated, but he needed to take a breather before getting back to the meeting, or he'd end up proving Jaden right.

He grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and sighed, drinking as he walked back to the office. As he approached, he could hear Jaden chewing them out for not having a single solution to present when addressing their Alpha. It put a smile on Marcus' face.

When he entered, the wolves were visibly sheepish about being scolded, and he found it difficult to suppress his grin.

"Alpha," Jaden said, calling attention to himself when Marcus sat down again.

"Yes."

"We have a few suggestions for the adjustments that need to be made to the current border patrol."

It was still strange, even after all these years, to hear Jaden speak this formally to Marcus. It was customarily accepted for all wolves to address the Alpha this way, but Marcus had never enforced it. In fact, he'd asked the members of his pack to address him however they felt comfortable.

As it turned out, they were more comfortable following the traditions that they'd grown up with for generations. And Marcus didn't want to take that away from them. It was just something that had taken a lot of getting used to over many years.

"Then we can discuss them," Marcus

said, leaning back in his chair. Jaden

nodded and motioned for one of the

others to stand. He got to his feet and

kept his bright blue eyes on the table as

he spoke.

"Alpha," he said, and Marcus recognized him as Layne, a relatively new addition to their pack. He'd left his own pack after some tensions between him and his mate's family, and had asked Alexandar for a place to stay. Marcus had agreed immediately.

"Yes, Layne."

"We thought that maybe the patrol groups could take along some of the younger wolves who are strong enough. This way, the groups would have more members without sacrificing the perimeter checks. We could also have the younger wolves run the earlier patrols and the more experienced wolves will take the graveyard shifts."

Marcus nodded in thought, having already decided to start working with the younger wolves who had just reached maturity. He knew they needed to be trained correctly to run with the older, more experienced warriors during patrol. And if something happened on those patrols, they needed to be able to defend themselves. Preferably, without becoming a burden to their teammates.

Following Layne's suggestion, a few of the other wolves had spoken up and submitted their own solutions. Together, they'd come up with actionable plans that would be rolled out after Marcus' rut.

They were dismissed and Jaden stayed behind, a massive, shit-eating grin on his face.

"What?" Marcus asked defensively.

"Are you going to get ready or am I going to have to drag your ass to the club?" he asked, his arms crossed over his broad chest. Marcus tongued the inside of his cheek, seriously reconsidering his decision to let Jaden take him to some creepy sex club to find a female to get him through his rut.

But there wasn't really any point in fighting. Jaden would just fall back on his second favorite past-time: guilting Marcus into doing whatever he wanted.

"I'll go and get changed," Marcus grouched, getting to his feet.

"What for?" Jaden scoffed. "You're going to end up naked, anyway. I just meant change your shoes, man. Really? Chuck Taylors?"

"Fuck you and your prejudice against the classics," Marcus said, shoving past a chuckling Jaden and making his way back upstairs to change his shoes as Jaden had so politely requested.

He was waiting outside the packhouse when Marcus finally came back down, his black formal shoes a little too tight for his comfort. Considering he almost never wore shoes, he'd forgotten just how much it actually sucked.

"Woah, breaking out the fancy shoes, huh?"

"Jaden, I swear to the Moon if you don't get off my ass I will actually tear your tongue out of your throat and shove it up yours."

Jaden choked on his laughter but kept his stupid comments to himself. The drive to the club was relatively quiet, and it grated on Marcus' already fraying nerves. The air inside the car was too thick with his own hormones, and he felt slightly guilty because it must be absolutely stifling for Jaden, whose rut was months away.

Thankfully, they arrived soon after, Jaden grinning as he got out.

"Welcome," he said, waving his hand toward what Marcus assumed was the club entrance. "To The Blue Angel."

The club was exactly what Marcus had imagined and yet nothing he could have ever dreamt up himself.

The building itself was discreet, a large red brick building that really looked like it was nothing special. Marcus had frowned at Jaden when they stepped out of the car, but Jaden had continued like this was exactly where they needed to be. He followed with a hint of hesitation, not really sure what was going on.

At the door, a large iron slab that made Marcus think of mediaeval torture cells, they were greeted by a huge man that stank of wolf, who greeted Jaden like he was an old friend. They passed by him like they were important or something, and Marcus just went with it. He was a little too on edge to ask questions, and had already planned at least ten different ways to get out as soon as possible.

The iron door opened up and led to a dark staircase. Thumping music reached Marcus' sensitive ears. The iron door must have been especially thick to dampen the heavy bass coming from the underground club.

"If this is where you sell me to your loan sharks, Jay, I will kill you," Marcus grumbled into his best friend's ear, earning a chuckle in response.

"After tonight, you'll be singing my praises, friend."

At the bottom of the staircase was yet another iron door, although much lighter than the first, which swung open, welcoming them into a huge open space. The lights were dimmed but not hiding anything from Marcus' wide eyes.

The reason for the huge iron door was obvious the second they stepped into the club.

Every surface was covered in sleek, shiny velour, a deep sapphire blue that might have impressed him on any other occasion.

Because, on top of the soft velour that covered the luxurious sofas, were wolves in varying states of undress, drooling all over one another. Some were making out, some outright fucking with no regard for those around them.

The entire club stank of pheromones. It was so overwhelming that it made Marcus' eyes water and his nose wrinkle in disgust. Even in his state, possibly mere hours away from his rut, he hated everything about this place.

The music did little to drown out the lewd echoes of skin slapping skin, of moans and growls that sent something warm sliding down his spine. 'Intrigue?' he figured, because he was already unbelievably horny and he'd never been somewhere people were so casual about fucking in public. He tried to keep his eyes up, looking past the horde of bodies swaying on a dancefloor and spotting a few stages scattered throughout the club. The poles on them glittered, the naked bodies wrapped around them even more so.

They'd drawn a bit of a crowd, each wolf looking hungrily at the dancers on stage.

"Those rooms over there are for ruts and heats," Jaden explained, catching the way Marcus eyed the locked doors lining the walls of the club in suspicion. "For privacy and for the protection of the patrons who aren't going berserk."

With a nod, Marcus prowled off to the bar, unable to stop himself from snapping at a few of the patrons who jostled him in their desperation to get to the front.

He'd need hard liquor to get through this shit show.

"Don't look so sour," Jaden cajoled, nudging his elbow. "You won't find a female with that face."

"You won't find a female without your tongue, so I suggest you learn how and when to use it very quickly."

"Fine, fine," Jaden conceded, hands. held up in defeat. "I'll go hunting. You get us drinks. Whisky for me, yeah?"

Marcus waved him off, trying to temper his breathing so that he wasn't swallowing lungfuls of pure need. He did not know how any of the other patrons weren't buckled at the knees under the pressure of it all. Then again, they probably hadn't forced themselves to go through their heats and ruts alone for five years straight.

Jaden was somehow back in a second, two beautiful women in his arms, and he winked at Marcus.

"Take your pick," he said, and it kind of made Marcus' skin crawl, and he grabbed his own whisky from the bar counter and turned away angrily.

"I can't do this, Jay," he said, dismay written plainly on Jaden's face. He got to his feet and was about to leave when a woman at the end of the bar caught his eye.

He froze in his tracks, the half empty whisky glass dangling precariously from his fingertips.

Helena?