The Alpha's Favorite

Chapter 1

'A human typically only binds with a werewolf for three reasons: power, s e x and illegal s h i t. It is up to the werewolf if the human is worthy enough.'

The sound of a slap is loud and clear despite the busy nightclub, piercing through music and laughter so easily that it vibrates through the walls.

I flinched at the contact of the hand against my ass and flinched even harder when that same hand started to squeeze tightly, feeling my back side with much vigor.

A cackle comes right after the slap.

It always does.

“Lily darling, it’s always a pleasure to have you work this late at night when the monsters are out to play.”

He was a monster alright.

But he was a monster that paid for my father’s medication— something I would never be able to afford if I didn’t work here.

In the beginning, it was easy enough. At least that’s what I tell myself. It was especially easy when he wasn’t here, which doesn’t happen often, much to everyone’s disappointment. I was only a waitress in this very sleazy establishment and no one really minded me. Not when there are gorgeous girls in barely any clothing dancing for them.

I was a mere shadow and I embraced it.

My work is simple enough. Clean up tables and mop up floors from vomit and spilled drinks and... male fluids. Take orders. Hand out food and drinks. Repeat.

Easy, right?

No.

This particular monster and all the rest of the monsters that go here usually kept to the performing girls, but that didn’t last. Soon, like a hungry beast looking for his next meal, he found me, and I was suddenly his new shiny toy. From then on, he hasn’t stopped dragging me towards his VIP table every time he sees me, whispering disgusting things and holding me as if I was one of his possessions that he flaunts.

It was the worst eight hours of my day.

But it did pay the best.

And God did I need every cent.

I desperately needed every cent.

With my father unable to work because of his illness and my mother absolutely drowning in medical debt while trying but failing to run our teeny tiny bakery that was so rundown it barely had any customers… this was my only option.

I was the only option.

And I do not have the option to break.

In the mornings at four thirty, I help my mom with our bakery, which loses more money than it earns. Before facing the misery of an eight hour shift in this dump, I slip into my old ballet studio—a place that brings both pain and solace, yet somehow still soothes me.

For a little while, I could breathe. I could prepare. I could remind myself why I had to do this... that I've already failed once and, because of that, I lose a part of myself every night working at this place.

As much as I would like to complain, it did put food on our table, allowing enough to both pay for my family’s debts and to fix our crumbling bakery.

“Lily, look at me.” He demanded sharply, like he was merely calling for his disobedient dog, snapping me back to reality. “Look at me when I’m talking to you, alright?”

The monster's name was Silas, and he was the owner of the less than legal nightclub in the deepest, darkest depths of the city. It was the biggest establishment of its kind, and it also had the worst people that came and visited it.

Two years I’ve worked here, and two years is enough to see the horrors of the world. I’ve never been the same. Not after what I’ve seen.

I turned to look at him, sucking in a breath and steeling my spine for whatever disgusting thing comes out of his mouth next.

“I like you, baby. You know this. I’ve said it multiple times. I’m almost on my knees for you every night. You’re making me look like a fool here.” He roughly grabbed me by the chin— which I just know will bruise in the morning and pulled me so close to his face I could smell the sour stench of smoke and liquor wafting from his mouth. “How many times do I have to beg for your number? How many times do I have to beg for a taste? You’re getting me all hot and bothered with no release. And that isn’t safe. For you. For anyone.”

I watch in horror as he makes a show of licking his lips as if he’s already tasting me.

Beside him, his usual group of friends laughed. They were a terrible collection of men, all wearing gold watches and sunglasses even though it was so dark inside the nightclub.

They sniggered to themselves like spoiled little boys in tailor made suits that still didn’t quite fit them right.

And behind them were a group of mean looking werewolves they kept as bodyguards, huge and ruthless and dangerous, and all were watching me closely.

Monsters.

All of them were monsters.

“You have my number, sir.” I say, devoid of any emotion, knowing how easily he took my details from the club manager and how he happily blows up my phone like a marketing pyramid scheme that just won’t go away.

Every single day it goes;

‘I know you want me like I want you.’

‘I know you’re working tonight. Wear what I like again so I can feel you.’

‘Can’t stop thinking about your ass and those thighs. Yummy Lily.”

‘I wonder what you taste like?’

‘You need to stop playing hard to get.’

‘You should be in my bed right now.’

‘I can make your wildest dreams come true.’

And that was all before noon.

It wasn’t all texts either. He sent videos too. Lengthy videos of him enjoying himself, to a picture of me. A picture I used for my resume.

I blocked him after that first week, but he only texted and called me through many other numbers, his messages only getting worse each time.

The other girls assured me he would eventually get bored, that he would give up and see another new girl to mess with, but it’s been months.

He was a nightmare, a nightmare that was only getting worse and worse.

I mentally counted down the seconds and minutes before my shift ends.

It could not come soon enough.

Usually, he leaves me alone after a couple of catcalls and winks, but today was different.

Today he looked like he was ready to celebrate. Their table was filled with illegal substances, booze and guns. More so than usual.

Some of them even had blood on their jackets.

But what was scary was… these men looked like they were ready to celebrate using me.

“Yet you never reply to my texts or answer any of my calls. You keep playing hard to get. All I want is a date… all I want is a night with me inside you. Is that too much to ask?” He grabbed the back of my thighs, his hands slowly going upwards under my skirt. “Huh, Lily?”

I swallowed and took a step back, all while fighting the urge to either cry my eyes out or slap him as hard as I could.

But I couldn’t do anything.

All I can do is hope he forgets me soon.

Because damn, I need this job.

I need this job! I chanted this to myself over and over, picturing my father’s medical bills, the bakery’s monthly needs and food on the table.

There was nothing else that offered this kind of money at this particular time and, short of performing on stage myself, this was the best I could do.

Degrading as it is, it was for the family.

I've failed them once.

I can't do that again.

“I already have a boyfriend.” I didn’t really, but sometimes mentioning another man gets a man away, but I should’ve known better.

This wasn’t just any man.

He was a powerful one and he knew it.

The other waitresses and staff members whisper about his connections to corrupt politicians and bribed law enforcement.

He was proudly a criminal of the worst kind.

The kind that was so terrible that no one could touch him no matter what he did.

He stood up from his seat all of a sudden, drink still in hand, a glower on his lips and his eyes flashing dangerously.

The action and the look of him made me jump back.

No more was the man trying hard to flirt and harass me. In his place was the criminal who wanted nothing more than to add me to his kill count.

He wasn’t the worst of it.

The very large and angry werewolves surrounding him started to make their way towards me as well.

If intimation and fear were what he wanted from me, he certainly got it.

“Don’t lie to me. I followed you home. I have watched you every minute of every day. And with the way you’re working here…” He gestures to the dodgy place he owns, where women are in scantly clad outfits that sparkle and men with their mouths open for them tossing bills. “I doubt someone out there loves you like that. At least not like I do. Now come here and let me taste you, baby. I’m out here celebrating, and you’re my prize for being a good boy.”

The temperature dropped completely.

And the heated club full of smoke mixed with hot breaths suddenly turned cold.

How did he know—?

He followed me?

“Isn’t your daddy sick? Isn’t that why you work two jobs? Your sad little bakery? I can make that disappear. All your problems go poof. Just be with me.” He tempted with a grin so wide I could see that he had gold teeth. “Let me be inside of you already. I know it’s warm and wet in there.”

But I was more worried about how he knows all this.

About me.

About my father and my two jobs.

And the bakery? My mother's pride and joy?

“Sir, I… I’m here to work as a waitress. Nothing more. Please, just let me work.” I don’t get to say more as he yanks me closer to him, so close that I could feel just how much he wanted me through our clothes. “I just want to work. Please.”

“Don’t make me do something you’ll regret.” His eyes gleamed in the dark and all I could do was shake my head as he tried to pull me into his lap, his nails digging into my flesh. “Don’t let me be the bad guy when I’m the one giving you a job, paying for your family’s debts and meals. All I want is one thing, and you can’t even give that? Where's the gratitude?”

I looked around for help which I knew wouldn’t come. The club manager was pointedly looking away, and the other girls only lowered their heads when I locked eyes with them.

The money didn’t seem that important anymore.

What did I get myself into?

His grip on my thigh and waist tightens until it’s all I could feel and panic rises like nothing ever before. “Just a little taste, Lily. Just a little—“

His lips were on me before I could blink.

He tasted exactly how he smelled; disgusting and foul and extra slobbery.

But more than that, I felt violated. Without thinking, my body moves on its own.

My fist comes flying, hitting his jaw hard enough that I feel my knuckles c***k and break.

I heard him grunt, his hands releasing me as he grasped his face.

His spoiled friends and mean werewolf bodyguards are all standing, running to him and shouting at me. Some even had their guns pointed at me.

The music in the club stopped then. The club manager is beside me. The other girls ran towards the back of the club for safety.

It was all happening so fast.

But I knew what I had just done.

And it’s something no one can ever do.

Not to him.

Never to him.

“You’re dead.” He seethed through his bloody mouth, spitting on the floor that I had just mopped. “Your family, that dusty little bakery you own and work at in the mornings. Dead and destroyed. All of it.”

He grabbed me by the throat, his hold so tight my vision blurs as he lifted me off the ground, my feet dangling.

I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t think.

But when he spoke, I heard every word.

“That dance studio where you hide in the afternoons because you’re too broken to actually dance… it’s all going to go away and this will all end with you in my mouth while I have my way with you in front of the ones you love the most.” He pulls me closer to him, so close that his saliva splatters on my face. “And then I’m going to kill them in front of you after as the climax.”

Dread.

Horror.

Fear.

All of it squeezes at my heart.

“Pathetic and powerless, little Lily, I will have you. One way or another. Sadly, you choose the bad way.”