His Royal Highness Prince Aidan of the Nexus walked into the dingy bar deep in the Outlands. The music was loud and everything was allowed. Even before they had come out to the humans, this city had been a den of debauchery and indulgence for the humans. Now it was filled with all sorts of species who cared nothing about the war about to rage around them. They just wanted to feed, fuck and be merry.

He used to love it here. He could fill his tank here without having to go home. Now he couldn’t even get hard so his only option was all these second-hand emotions.

He walked past a couple who didn’t care that they were naked right in the middle of the room and found a quiet spot at the bar. There was a human next to him who looked and smelled like he was high out of his mind. He’d be someone’s meal before the night was out.

But he wasn’t going to worry about that. Any human who came in here knew what they were getting themselves into.

“Long time, buddy. Where’s your friend?”

Aidan looked up at the Elven bartender as he set his usual drink in front of him.

“Got himself a mate,” Aidan answered as he threw the shot back.

“Yeah, I heard. Poor bastard,” the elf laughed.

Contrary to popular human belief, Elves came in all shapes and sizes. Eddie was a giant dude with bulging muscles. No one fucked with him. He could slit anyone’s throat before they even realised they were dead. Really fast for an elf.

“Yeah,” he said.

Poor bastard? Lucky one. His mate wanted him, and they were going to live happily ever after if they managed to stay alive long enough. But he was stuck in this limbo because his mate didn’t even know who he was.

Eddie refilled his glass and he downed it again.

“What’s wrong with you? You look like someone just died. By now you’d have been all over the ladies,” Eddie stated.

“Nothing wrong,” he said as he asked for another shot.

Nothing wrong except his mate was trying to hook up with another male, and he couldn’t even get it up to be with anyone else. And to top it all he was fucking starving and the only way to get him enough energy was to go back to the pack lands and stay close to Marcus and Dani for a little while. He’d given up his birthright for this, and he was going to starve before he was of any real use to them.

A couple of witches walked into the bar and he tensed. Flashes of being captured weeks ago filtered through his mind. He didn’t look at them as they walked past, and as he listened to their conversation he realised they were just discussing what they were going to buy as a birthday present for someone. Normal stuff. Nothing to do with imprisoning him so they could harness his power to destroy his pack.

The guilt hit him again at that. He was stronger than anything in this realm, yet three dark witches had managed to imprison him and take his power. How had they even known how to do that? Now he hadn’t even been able to go into Scarlet City to gather information because there was a whole coven of them there. They were protecting the city and he had been too chicken shit to go past the boundary to get the information his alphas needed.

The Fae had disappeared, too. There was no trace of them anywhere, not even Oliver, the one that his alpha had let go. It didn’t make sense that they had attacked them twice and worked with Jackson only to let Dani win that fight. Something was going on and he couldn’t get the information.

He was failing his pack on all fronts.

The sounds coming from one of the back rooms hit his ears and he let all of that sexual energy fill him. It wouldn’t be enough to do much except getting him to the next spot but it would have to do.

“So what have you heard, Eddie,” he asked. He kept his voice low so the other supernaturals wouldn’t hear him above the loud music and sounds of lovemaking.

“Nothing good,” Eddie replied. “I wouldn’t stay here too long if I was you. King Aragorn wants you, and whatever that bastard wants can’t be good for anyone.”

Eddie had a deep distrust for the establishment, hence why he had chosen to exile himself and set up shop in the lawless Outerlands. But the Elves had always generally kept out of anyone else’s business. There was no bad blood between them and Marcus and Dani that he was aware of unless you counted the fact that during the war the great Marcello had slaughtered a lot of them.

Yeah, it was probably best to keep away until he knew what the Elven King wanted.

If he had his full dose of power, he could have just spied on the king the way he used to before he had bound himself to this realm.

“I’ll keep my eyes open,” he said to Eddie as he opened up his senses to feed on everyone else.

It was as he did that that he felt the familiar power entering the bar. It was so strong he was practically salivating for a taste of it even as his mind was screaming for him to escape.

But he stayed in his seat until the power came right next to him. The spaced-out human was pushed off his seat as someone else took his place.

“You’ve been a hard male to find, brother.”

Aidan looked at his brother as he ordered a drink from Eddie. Eddie looked between the two of them and hesitated until he gave him a little nod. His brother didn’t miss the exchange.

“I see you’ve bought yourself some loyalty here,” he started. “I’m sure you could have found a better place than this shithole.”

Eddie slammed the shot down in front of him but didn’t do anything else. He was sure the elf had felt his brother’s power a mile away, which was saying a lot about his state right now because he’d felt nothing.

“What are you doing here, Zane?” he asked.

Zane didn’t respond as a human girl came up to him with an inviting smile. She was scantily dressed and it was clear what she was after, especially with her being in this place. Zane turned around and let the woman whisper something in his ear which made him chuckle.

“Give me five minutes, I’ll be right there,” Zane said.

Aidan rolled his eyes as he asked for another drink. He needed it to get the courage to finally go home.

“I think this place is growing on me,” Zane said with another chuckle as he looked around. This place was like dinner time in The Nexus. It was inevitable that Guardians ended up here at some point in their travels in this realm.

“What do you want?” he repeated.

Zane pushed his long blond locks out of his face as he turned back to face him. His blue eyes turned serious as the smile left his face. It would be obvious to anyone looking at them that they were brothers as they were almost identical despite the hundred-year age gap. Only their eyes differed. Zane’s blue eyes didn’t have the gold rings that his green eyes did. The gold rings that had cursed him. Zane was the lucky one.

“You’ve fucked with Fate, little brother. Did you really think there would be no consequences?”

Aidan chuckled. If that was so, Fate should never have given him a wolf for a mate. What other option had he had?

“And they’ve sent you here to tell me that?”

“Actually, I’ve come to warn you. Mother dearest wants you home, Aidan,” Zane said.

“I’m sure you know that’s impossible now.”

He had cut off all ties with the Nexus and denounced all other bonds the moment he had formed a blood bond with Dani, his new alpha.

“You’re her favourite. The next King of the Nexus. Do you really think that she will let you unbind yourself from her that easily?”

He felt a weight settle in his stomach. There would be only one way he could be unbound from Dani now.

“My alpha has royal blood now. She can’t touch her. Fate has decreed it, even mother can’t spill royal blood.”

“Really?” Zane asked somberly. “You think our mother will worry about killing someone with her own blood running through her veins?”

Shit. The Queen had ruled for centuries so there were always whispers of all the atrocities she had committed. She was the reason there was unrest in the first place. But royal blood was protected by Fate. Would the Queen disregard that? Had he really brought more trouble to Dani and Marcus than he had intended? Even the whole pack shared his blood when they bonded with Dani. Sarah shared his blood.

“You haven’t been home in decades and all of a sudden you know all these things?” Aidan asked.

“I was doing quite well away from that place, but thanks to your little disappearing act, guess who was pulled back into the fold to fill your tiny shoes?” Zane grunted. “Thanks, little brother.”

“I don’t trust a word that comes out of your mouth,” he growled.

He didn’t have the best relationship with his brother, and their mother’s favouritism had made that worse.

“Understandable. But they’re still coming to get you. Say your goodbyes while you can,” Zane said as he downed his drink and headed to the human woman who was waiting for him at the edge of the dancefloor.

And he used the term loosely. There was no dancing being done on that floor.

Zane picked the woman up and planted his lips on hers as he wrapped her legs around him and headed to a wall at the back of the room.

The shot of lust he felt around him increased. Like all the Guardians, Zane had incubus somewhere in his bloodline but he seemed to have more than most. Everyone always wanted to fuck him everywhere he went. He didn’t need to watch the couple to know exactly what his brother was doing, everything he could feel was now magnified. And whatever Zane was giving out filled the whole room. Zane was doing what he did best. He almost groaned as he finally had the power he had been craving.

At any given time this would have been a party for him as the people behind him started pairing off. But now all he could think of was the wolf he had left behind. He could bet everything he had, which was nothing at the moment, that she wasn’t holding herself back the way he was being forced to.

He closed his eyes as he took his fill of all the emotions in the room; the lust, the love, all those decadent emotions. It would be enough to take him straight to his mate if he could just grow a pair and travel back to her.

“He’s like you,” Eddie stated, looking around at the activities caused by the extra dose of lust in the air.

He opened his eyes as the bartender spoke. He knew they would be glowing now as he fed. It was a side effect of joining Danielle’s pack.

“Almost like you,” Eddie amended as he tilted his head in thought and looked into his eyes. “Are you ever going to tell me what the fuck you are?”

Aidan smiled as he threw his last bill on the counter.

“Maybe one day.”

Telling him would get him killed. Just as it would probably get Danielle and Marcus killed if he didn’t get back to warn them, and they had actually been to the Nexus. As if they didn’t have enough on their hands trying to stop Alessandro. He had been selfish. He’d thought he could come here and have a mate like everyone else did but he should have known better. Guardians didn’t do exclusivity, it wasn’t in their nature. And if they found out he had found a mate who was not of his realm, they would slaughter her.

He should have run the moment he had seen Sarah. He should have stayed home when his mother had cut him off from the power supply so he couldn’t travel. Then maybe his dick would still be working and he wouldn’t have to make this trip back to Dani to tell her that his mother was going to try to kill her.

“See you around, Eddie. Stay safe. Bad things are coming.”

He walked past Zane and the sound of pure ecstasy from the woman he had up against the wall. He took his last fill of it before he mentally prepared himself.

It was time to go back to the pack.

Sarah Ryan pushed the brunette locks that had escaped her braid out of her face as she corrected her form and then launched herself at Darren. Darren was an alpha; she had no chance of winning against him anyway but he always took it easy on her. Just as they all did. It was starting to piss her off.

Alpha Alister had trained her in secret since she and his daughter, Dani, had become friends when he was still a Beta. He hadn't cared that she was shorter than most she-wolves and more petite. But now everyone was treating her as if she was one of the untrained females that Jackson had forbidden to train. For once she was allowed to train openly but there were still some sexist males thinking she couldn’t handle it even though her wolf was a Beta.

As she had expected, Darren didn’t even try to dodge, and instead of flipping her over onto her back when she gave him the opening, he let her wrap herself around him instead.

She jumped off him in frustration.

“Fight me!” she snarled.

Darren just smirked his usual smirk as he circled her again in the training ground.

“I’m fighting, Sarah,” he said as he took a fighting stance again.

“We’re supposed to be preparing to fight Alessandro. Those vampires won’t go easy on me. You’re not helping.”

“I think when the time comes you should stay here with Alister’s pack,” Darren said.

She got so angry at his statement that her blue eyes glowed as she growled at him. She was a lot stronger than she used to be, thanks to Kira becoming her alpha. Why did everyone still think she couldn’t fight? She’d had the same enhancements as everyone in Dani’s pack, Darren included.

Without giving Darren a chance to react, she launched herself at him again using the gifts Kira had gifted her and took him off his feet with a perfect spear before she put him in a hold. Darren tapped out quickly but she was confident he hadn’t let her win that time.

“Okay, okay. What’s got into you tonight, Sarah?” Darren asked.

She knew why she was so angsty. She had been feeling it for days and pretty soon she wouldn’t be able to hide it from anyone.

“Nothing. Just train with me as you would with anyone else, please. It doesn’t matter if Dani orders me to stay here with Alister, I need to be able to defend myself,” she growled.

Darren’s gaze softened as he stood up and brushed himself off. He was still a relatively unknown wolf, still new to the pack but she had grown closer to him the past few weeks. He was easy to talk to because he didn’t judge. She had told him how scared she had been when her old alpha Jackson had threatened to make her the pack whore when they had defied him and joined Kira. Though Jackson had been a cruel alpha, he had never forced any of the females into doing that before. But it had made her see just how easy it would be for anyone to do that to her.

That was the only reason why she was still in Dani’s pack. She felt a lot safer with her in the knowledge that Dani or her wolf Kira would never do that to her, even if they weren’t speaking now.

Her eyes narrowed at the vampires who stood watching the training along the sidelines and her anger increased. It had been almost a month of being forced to live with these bloodsuckers. To train with them and eat with them as if they were all one big family. They were the very vampires who had killed her father. She would never forgive Dani for that.

“Let’s go again,” she growled.

“Maybe we should take a break,” Darren frowned.

“I know when I need a break. Either fight me or let me find someone else who will take this seriously,” she snapped.

Darren’s frown grew, and then he sniffed the air. His eyes glowed for a moment before he looked back at her.

“Sarah, you can’t be here,” he said sternly.

It was obviously too late now. It was starting. Sarah huffed as she turned away from him to march out of the field. Why did she have to be confined when in heat just because she didn’t have a mate? She didn’t even want one! She didn’t want to bend to anyone’s will, and she didn’t want to become a shell of herself if her mate died as her mother had done. Was she doomed to be locked away when she was in heat for the rest of her life because of that? She had thought that maybe that part of the rules would change, but even with Dani and Alister in charge, the unmated females still weren’t free to pick whoever they wanted to ease their heat. She would have to be confined for days by herself.

She frowned when she heard Darren following her through the tree line to the grounds in front of the packhouse.

“Why are you following me?” she snarled.

“You shouldn’t have been so reckless, Sarah,” Darren growled. “All the males will scent you, too. Move faster.”

She could hear the strain in his voice as he walked behind her.

“Why should someone else get to make decisions about my body?” she asked, twirling to face him. “I’m an adult, I can decide for myself. This is bullshit.”

Darren’s eyes glowed again. Her scent was a lot stronger now and any moment now she would probably be in trouble with both alphas if she caused a disruption.

“You need to get to the packhouse,” Darren growled.

The packhouse had some magically shielded comfortable rooms where the females could suffer through this in peace. Before the threat of this war, they would have had to travel to a shelter deep in the forest away from the rest of the pack.

She tilted her head to look at Darren. He was probably one of the most good looking males she had ever seen apart from Aidan. He was tall and muscular as most alphas were, and the tribal tattoos he had were a turn on. And because they had only recently met him when he had helped them fight the Fae, he had not been part of Jackson’s pack. That meant he was one of the few who had not mistreated her mother and the only one around here she was comfortable with. Darren would be the best candidate to relieve her of the burden of her virginity.

What was the point of waiting now, anyway? She was likely going to die when they went to battle the vampire Elder Alessandro. She didn’t want to die a virgin.

“What if I don’t want to be confined?” she asked as she took a step forward.

She could feel it now. She could feel the heat travelling up her veins and her nipples start to harden.

“Then you’ll get us both into trouble, Sarah,” Darren whispered.

She took another step forward until his earthy scent mixed with his arousal hit her nose. She felt her panties get drenched. There was no turning back now.

“Then I suppose we’re getting into trouble tonight,” she whispered.